


Cindereyla

by rentasofa



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Cinderella Elements, F/M, Fairy Godmother Maz, Luke has Issues, Prince Ben Solo, Royal Ball, ben has issues, you shall go to the ball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-08-08 21:03:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 34,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16436732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rentasofa/pseuds/rentasofa
Summary: Despite being bullied into a life of servitude by her caretaker and his daughters, spirited Rey refuses to despair or retaliate choosing to be patient and wait for her parents to come back for her.For fifteen years she works away, not asking for anything, until the entire kingdom is invited to a Royal Ball that just so happens to fall on her twenty first birthday.Prince Ben, recently returned from war, wants nothing to do with his mother's plans to marry him off. That is until he spots a mysterious girl across the ballroom who has no idea who he is, and just so happens to be wearing glass slippers.





	1. Prologue

Once upon a time in a far away land, there was the tiny kingdom of Naboo. Peaceful and prosperous, it was rich in tradition and romance. There stood a stately chateau in which lived a man and his wife, along with their young daughter Reyla, but everyone called her Rey.

 

Rey enjoyed a happy childhood, preferring to run around the meadows surrounding her home, chasing crickets and splashing in the stream, while her parents watched on sipping drinks from beneath the shade of an oak tree, as opposed to learning how to be a lady like the rest of the girls her age.

 

But the endless summer of childhood didn’t last long for young Rey. When she was five she was awoken one morning by men in uniforms banging at the front door, stomping round the house in muddy boots, wet from the rain that was pouring down outside, asking her confusing questions about where her parents were.

 

Rey ran to her parents’ bedroom, finding it empty apart from the usual mess of clothes, empty bottles and unmade bed. They were gone and no one could find them, not in the local town or surrounding land. Rey was all alone.

 

For two whole months she refused to leave the chateau, it was her home her parents would come back. She ate vegetables out of the garden raw and drank water straight out of the well. They’d come back, she wouldn’t be alone for long.

 

But another couple of months passed and the weather got colder, still no sign of her parents. People started turning up at the chateau, looking around the grounds and up at the facade. One time they came in and Rey hide under the stairs with a wooden staff, crouching in readiness if they found her, but they didn’t and soon left. That night she took the staff to bed. 

 

She was so alone. Or she would be if not for her distant relation Unkar Plutt and his two children moving into the chateau soon after. Rey thought that Unkar looked like a potato, a squat lumpy sort of man with no hair on his head and eyes too close together. The complete opposite of his daughters, Bazine and Unamo. They were slightly older than Rey but she couldn’t tell which of the two was older.

 

Theirs was a sharp kind of beauty, even in childhood all cheekbones and cold eyes. They rarely smiled and went everywhere together with all the poise a young lady should have, and Unkar spoilt them, seeing to their every need. They were not the kind of girls Rey wanted to be friends with.

 

Which was fine until the day Plutt banned her from going outside forcing her to play tea party with his daughters. That would be  have been agreeable if she didn’t always get relegated to the role of maid, having to serve the tea and sandwiches, which she had to go and make because they couldn’t pretend, and stand in the corner waiting for them to finish so she could clear everything up.

 

The next big change that Plutt implemented was getting some contractors in to remodel part of the house, including Rey’s bedroom. He said that while the work was going on it would be best for her to move up into the attics where the old servants quarters were. The rooms hadn’t been used in year and were so dusty and full of old furniture, but Rey set about cleaning the place up and making her makeshift room and comfortable as possible.

 

It wasn’t all bad, the massive spiders would stay away as long as she dusted every other day. She was quite pleased by the bed she made out of a few boxes and a lumpy old mattress and she was getting ideas of how to fix the dresser and if she could find a mirror, it wouldn’t look too bad.

 

But the best thing about the attic room was that she found a family of mice that made a lot of sense if she listened very carefully. She gave them names, Wedge (for cheese), Porkins (because he was a bit chubby) and Tallie (after the marks she started making on the wall to represent the number of days since her parents left, current total 485). They were her friends and a better family than the people downsides.

 

The workman were in the house for a long time, and every night after they left Plutt made Rey clear up the mess they made. Rey thought this was a pointless exercise because as soon as the mess was cleared away they would be back to make more mess. Rey learnt the hard way that it was best to keep this to herself as the one time she had voiced this to Plutt, he slapped her round the face. Rey was in shock but she could see Unamo and Brazine stood around the corner laughing at her misfortune. So with tears in her eyes she got on with the task she was set. The only comfort she got was from three little mice in her room.

 

It was over a year before the workman disappeared for good, but she wasn’t told she could come down from the attic. So she went back to her old room herself only to find that it and the two adjoining rooms have all been knocked through to make one giant room that was full of Unamo and Bazine’s stuff.

 

The nine year old Bazine was reclining on a chaise longue reading a grown up magazine when she noticed Rey stood in the doorway with a confused look on her face. 

 

“What do you want?” said Bazine in a harsh tone, putting down the magazine and standing up, back straight.

 

“What happened to my room?” asked Rey. The room was immaculate, she was almost afraid to step over the threshold in her dusty clothes that were in need of a wash and slightly too small for her.

 

“Well we decided that it would be easier for you to stay where you are instead of moving around the house. You are comfortable in the attic aren’t you? So many projects to keep you busy.” Bazine said as she sauntered across the room.

 

Just then Unamo came up behind Rey to get into her bedroom. 

 

“What are you doing here you little….,” she stopped as she stopped Wedge sitting on her shoulder poking his head out through Rey’s hair. Unamo let out a scream and now Bazine was close enough to see as well. She also screamed, grabbed her sister and ran along the corridor and down the stairs to find their father.

 

The next day Plutt got a cat. It was grey in colour with a glossy coat. Much like the girls it was beautiful to look at but had a horrible personality. It hissed at Rey when she tried to pet it, but she was the one who was expected to feed it. Plutt let Bazine name the cat. She called it Phasma, and once the cat jointed the household, Rey never saw her first mouse friends ever again.

 

As the years passed by Rey found herself doing all the household chores, from making the meals to cleaning the carpets to trending to the garden. She had taught herself how to sew, altering her mother’s clothes to fit because there was no way Plutt was going to spend any money on clothes for her or let her have his daughters cast offs. She tried not to cut them as her mother would be wanting them when she came back.

 

There were still mice in the house despite Phasma’s best efforts to hunt them all down. Those that came to her for safety, she named and gave them little clothes made out of  material scraps. It may have seemed strange to anyone else but her little friends were her only comfort, a little patchwork family and they were going to be happy no matter how short their time together was. She shared her scraps of food with them as well as the food she gave the chickens. Rey made sure they understood to stay in safe part of the house while she was working and away from the cat, who she would chase away with a broom if she was close by, but there were still loses and she kept the clothes of the fallen in a small box to remember them.

 

Some days she worked until so late that she didn’t feel like climbing all the stairs to her attic room, she just curled up by the dying fire with an old horse blanket from the unused stables and went to sleep in the cinders.

 

The next morning she woke up later than usual, she rushed round the kitchen preparing the morning tea for the young ladies of the house, only just remembering to wash her hands.

 

Placing a tea tray by each of the sister’s beds, she went to open the curtains to let the morning sunlight into the room. Unamo grunted and pulled the duvet over her head wanting to sleep a bit longer, but Bazine was awake. A teenager by now, she had grown up gracefully, pale skin unblemished, limbs long and not gangly; unlike what Rey was starting to experience, but her face was still sharp and her eyes still cold.

 

“What’s that on you face?” Bazine asked as she reached for her tea pot. Rey frowned and went over the the mirror. Her hair was a mess, but there appeared to be some kind of soot on the right side of her face, she must have sleep to close to the fire. 

 

“I hope you didn’t get any cinders in our tea.” she said taking a sip and giving Rey a dirty look. “Una wake up,” Bazine called over to her sister. “Look at what a mess she is.” Unamo begrudgingly sat up and looked over at Rey.

 

“Oh my, what a sooty servent we have, Baz.” she let out a cruel laugh. “Oh I’ve got a new name for you. Cinder wench,”

 

“Dirty Reyla,” countered Bazine.

 

“Cindereyla!” they shouted together.

 

“That’s what we’ll call you,” said Bazine while laughing. Rey just ground her teeth and clenched her fist behind her back. She had learnt the hard way not to start a fight with either of the sisters. “Now take the washing out with you Cindereyla, and don’t come in here ever again in such a state” any merriment got from her voice.

 

Rey grabbed the wash basket and held her head high as she left the room. Maybe she’d go and chop firewood later, imagining that she was bringing the axe down on a certain someone.

 

She imagined leaving most days. Just walking out of there to the nearby town, and seeing if there was a kinder family who needed a maid. She didn’t really want to do this forever. She was pretty good at fixing things, maybe she could find a craftsman who would be willing to take her on and train her properly. She’d have a wage, she could buy her own things, meet people, maybe travel. 

 

But as always, before Rey had almost completely convinced herself to go, the guilt would set in. How would her parents find her when they came back only to find she was gone? Plutt wouldn’t pass on a message. No she belonged there, she was patient, she could wait. Besides, how much longer could they be?


	2. A New Mouse in the House

The early morning sun streamed through the gaps in the tattered curtain that hung over Rey’s open bedroom window. She stirred not wanting to get up just yet, instead staying in her favourite dream. She was on an island, green and full of life, but reality had different ideas.

The clock from the Royal Palace could just be heard striking the hour. Rey hated that old clock, it was such a killjoy, always spoiling her best dreams, telling her to get up and start a new day. It was like the clock was also bossing her around too.

So with a sigh she got out of bed and made her way over to the wall. For over fifteen years now, Rey had been scratching a tally mark into the wood every morning, counting the days since her parents left. Three sides of the room were covered floor to ceiling in neat straight lines but as she bent down to make today’s mark, Rey still hoped her parents would return. After all tomorrow was her twenty first birthday and, even through they had missed all her other birthdays, they couldn’t miss this one. Yes she was all grown up but she still had the same hopes she had in childhood.

Rey dressed for her day of household chores in her usual ragged outfit in various shades of beige, grey and brown, her hair pulled back from her face in three small buns.

She had just finished her hair when her little mouse friends scampered in under her bedroom door, squeaking excitedly. “New friend! New friend!” she could make out what they were saying.

“New friend? Why didn’t you bring them to see me? I do love new friends,” Rey asked as the three little mice scurried up the leg of her broken old dresser. Poe was the first to reach the top, the tiny leather jacket Rey had made him from scraps of material not inhibiting his climbing skills. Rose was behind him having stopped to help Bee-Bee, the smallest of her friends, after they got stuck half-way up.

“Friend in trap-trap! Friend in trap-trap!” the mice were jumping up and down to show the urgency of the situation.

“Oh no!” Rey jumped up from the thread-bare chair she had saved from being thrown out. “You better show me where they are quick.” She walked over to the door and waited for her friends to make their way off the dresser and back over to her. If it hadn’t been so urgent she would have laughed at the way Bee-Bee tripped and rolled across the floor, but they needed to get to their new friend before the cat did.

The trap was located at the bottom of the servants’ stairs, and Rey could see a dark brown mouse cowering in the corner. As she opened the door of the trap to let the little mouse out, they seemed to curl themselves into an even tighter ball.

“You poor little thing,” Rey said sympathetically, and turned to Poe who was sat next to her on the step. “Why don’t you go in there and talk to them? They might feel better if you talk to them, mouse to mouse.”

Poe, who had always thought of himself as the leader of the mice, stood up as tall as he could and made his way into the trap to talk to, what he hoped would be, his new best friend.

He approached the new mouse as it slowly opened one of its eyes at the sound of another mouse. “Me Poe-Poe, that Rey-Rey.” he pointed at Rey who was smiling softly at the way the mice always repeated words. “She friend. You friend too?” Poe asked reaching out to the new mouse who had started to un-curl themself. “Come, she make clothes and she bring food.”

The new mouse reached for Poe’s jacket, having never seen one before. Poe nearly flinched away, but thought better of it. “You like? You have.” He shrugged it off and pushed it towards his new best friend. They were definitely best friends now. But they just stared at it not sure what to do with it. “Come Rey-Rey help.” He picked the jacket back up and ran out of the trap towards Rey knowing the new mouse would follow him. He did timidly at first, nervously sniffing around, but he got a lot better when he spotted Poe and a couple of other mice sat cheering him on the step next to Rey, who had what was now his jacket.

“Hello there,” she said as she set her hand down in front of him. He hopped on and she helped him on with his jacket. “There it looks good on you, maybe even better than it did on Poe,” she winked at him sat on the step now only wearing a tiny white shirt, Rose and Bee-Bee sat either side of him giggling.

Rey put her new friend down so that Rose and Bee-Bee could meet him properly. Rose seemed to like him quite a lot, but he was still very shy and didn’t know what to do do ran to hide behind Poe, tripping over Bee-Bee in the process. Rey giggled picking their new friend up and setting him back on his feet. “Now Rose, play nicely,” she said gently patting her fuzzy little head, tufts of black hair sticking out in different directions.

She turned back to the new comer. “We need to give you a name little one. Now let me see,” she tapped her finger against her chin as she thought, a move mirrored by the mice. “I know, Phineas!” she exclaimed. All of the mice cocked their heads to the side in confusion, which made her laugh. “But we’ll call you Finn for short. Welcome to the family Finn.” She leaned down offering her finger to Finn to shake. Of course he didn’t understand the gesture, so just hugged her finger instead as the others clapped and chanted Finn’s new name.

In the distance Rey could hear the clock from the palace strike half past the hour. She needed to get to work, already slightly behind.

“I’ve got to go. Why don’t you show Finn around and I’ll meet you in the kitchen.” She got up off the floor and made her way into the main area of the house. “Don’t forget to warn him about the cat.” she called over her shoulder.

“Cat-Cat?” asked Finn.

“Yes cat-cat. Phasy,” said Rose heading towards a gap in the skirting board. “Phasy mean. Beware Phasy.” and with that ominous warning disappeared behind the wall, Bee-Bee and Poe close behind leaving Finn to bring up the rear.


	3. The Queen's Plan

Luke was alerted to the commotion in his sister’s study just as he was about to have his breakfast. The servant looked so worried that Luke decided to abandon his meal and see why she was so worked up today.

He heard her before he saw her, shouting at an unfortunate servant, followed by a thud as something was thrown at the wall. Luke sighed before taking a breath to brace himself before entering the study.

“Ah Luke, could you tell this fool that I don’t want any breakfast.” Luke looked at the poor young man, the breakfast tray shaking in his hands. He nodded, took the tray and dismissed the servant, Mikata he thought his name was.

Mikata offered a short bow and muttered “Your Majesty” and “Your Grace” to the royal twins, before almost running out of the room. He should have left when the Queen said she wasn’t hungry, but all the servants were under strict instructions from the Grand Duke to make sure the Queen kept to a regular meal schedule. What else could he have done?

Luke put the tray down on a free bit of space on Leia’s desk and took a seat. “Now Leia,” he said in his calmest tone. “What’s got you so worked up this morning?”

Leia didn’t look at him, instead looking at one of the portraits on the wall off to the side, worrying a piece of paper in her hands. Luke recognised the seal. It was from their cousins, who were always looking for an opportunity to get their hands on the throne. Whatever the letter contained, it couldn’t have been good.

“My son has been avoiding his responsibilities for long enough,” she dragged her eyes from the nearly thirty year old portrait of herself with her late husband and baby son, back to her brother. “It’s high time he got married and settled down.”

Luke closed his eyes to compose himself, marriage was a touchy subject for him. “Of course Leia, but he has been fighting in the war. We have to be patient.”

“I am patient,” Leia got up from her seat and walked over to the next painting on the wall. This one depicted her husband and son in matching navel uniforms. Han hated dressing up and looked grumpy in the painting, but as a child Ben wanted nothing more than to captain a ship just like his father. He was smiling in the picture, his little ears sticking out from behind his black hair.

“But I’m not getting any younger you know,” Luke smiled at that. Of course he knew, they were the same age. “I want to see my grandchildren before I go.” She moved across to a third painting. Ben was sixteen years old in this one. He stood apart from his parents and had refused to move closer during the sitting. He was finding adolescence hard, had grown out his hair and insisted on wearing all black. It made Leia sad to remember that it was around this time that Ben told Han that he no longer wanted to join the navy like his father putting a strain on their relationship for the rest of Han’s life.

“I understand, but…” Luke started.

“No, no you don’t know what it’s like to see your only child grown further and further away from you,” she turned to look at the last portrait in the room. It was five years ago, the last time Ben was at home for any length of time. Leia and Han were relegated to the background, while Ben was the main focus, riding a handsome black stallion, wearing a black ceremonial uniform and carrying his grandfather’s red sword. He had taken up sword fighting, Luke had taught him but it didn’t make a mother any less worried about her son being at war.

“I’m so lonely in this old palace. I want to hear the pitter patter of tiny feet again.” she slumped back into her chair with less dignity than a Queen should have.

“What did our cousins have to say?” asked Luke, knowing that would be the cause of all this.

Leia swallowed the lump in her throat. “They heard what nearly happened to Ben, and suggested that because our line consists of three people, that it would be better to hand the kingdom over to them sooner rather than later.” Leia screwed up the letter into a tight ball and throw it towards the fire. It missed but she felt slightly better.

“So your plan is to force Ben to get married? He’s not going to like that. Perhaps if we just let him alone...” Luke really needed to talk his sister out of this.

“Let him alone?” Leia quickly stood up knocking her chair over in the process, so she could pace. “With his silly romantic ideas?”

“But Leia, in matters of love…” again he started and again she interrupted.

“Love? Ha,” she grabbed two triangular pieces of toast from her breakfast tray. “Just a boy meeting a girl under the right conditions.” she joined the two pieces of toast together to form them back into a square. “So we’ll arrange the conditions.”

“But Leia,” Luke was sceptical, “If Ben should suspect…”

“Suspect? Ha,” she took a large bite out of one of the pieces of toast. Luke wasn’t sure if it was the one representing his nephew or his future bride, but at least Leia was eating something. “Look the boy’s coming home today isn’t he?”

“Yeeees,” Luke said slowly.

“Well, what could be more natural than a ball to celebrate his return?”

“Nothing I suppose,”

“And if all the eligible maidens in the kingdom just happen to be there?” Leia gave an innocent shrug. “Why, he’s bound to show interest in one of them isn’t he?”

“Perhaps,”

“And the moment he does, soft lights, romantic music,” Leia started to swaying to the music she was imagining. “All the trimmings. It can’t possibly fail.” she did a full twirl to face her brother again.

Luke couldn’t help but laugh at his sister’s romantic notions. In response Leia threw the half eaten piece of toast at him.

“I’m sorry Leia, but need I remind you that you meet Han after sneaking aboard his ship after a long night of drinking,” the other piece of toast struck him right between the eyes.

“Don’t you think I would have preferred a ball? A nice story I could tell my children? That’s what I want for my grandchildren Luke.”

“Ok, ok. Now I suppose you want me to arrange the ball for,” Luke started to get up from his chair.

“Tonight!” Leia declared triumphantly. Luke sat back down.

“Tonight?” he said in shock. “Leia, no!”

“Very well. Tomorrow night,“ Luke opened his mouth to protest again, but she cut him off. “Tomorrow night, and that’s your only option otherwise I’ll send you back to the farm in Tatooine.”

“I like the farm in Tatooine,” Luke argued, but Leia looked at him like a Queen rather than a sister so he couldn’t refuse. “Very well. I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thank you,” he got up and walked over to give her a kiss on the cheek. 

“Now please eat something,” he nodded to the breakfast tray, which Leia found even less appealing now everything had gone cold, and walked out the room to begin his now very stressful day of planning.

Leia let out a sigh and put her head in her hands. She didn’t want to do this to her son, truly, but she was scared of dying alone, of him dying alone. She couldn’t let that happen to her only child. But he was safe and nearly home, things would get better.

Casting one last look at Ben’s portraits, she picked herself up and left the study to get ready to meet her son on his return.


	4. Breakfast Time

The mouse’s secret passageway way to the kitchen was dark and dusty. Finn had to try really hard to keep up with his new friends, he definitely would have got lost without them.

They stopped suddenly, causing Finn to run into Bee-Bee. Before he could ask, Rose shushed him. A crack in the skirting board ahead of them was letting in some light and allowed them to hear what was going on outside.

Finn could hear footsteps and other things moving around the room the other side of the wall. He wanted to see what was going on, but Poe pulled him back by the collar of his jacket.

Suddenly a tremendous growl emanated from the other room scaring Finn, now thankful Poe had kept him back. They were obviously used to whatever the sound was.

His nerves were soothed slightly when he heard Rey’s voice coming through the wall.

“I’m sorry if you highness objects to an early breakfast. It’s certainly not my idea to feed you first,” she sighed, “It’s orders.” the sound of a dish being put on the ground reached them followed by the creek of a wooden door and Rey’s footsteps moving away.

“Come breakfast,” said Poe moving towards the crack in the skirting board and stopped again. Rose joined him and they both started whispering, but Finn didn’t listen to what they were saying. He was too distracted by the thought of breakfast and the giant furry grey thing that was in the entrance to the outside.

Poe came up behind Finn, put a paw on his shoulder, and pointed over at the mound of grey fur. “That Phasy. Phasy in the way of food, so Poe-Poe distract Phasy, so you can get food. Make sense?” Finn nodded. Poe gave a sad smile and clapped him on the back. He then turned and gave Bee-Bee and Rose a hug as if it might be goodbye, before scurrying off through the wall cavity.

Rose and Bee-Bee crouched in readiness in the entrance of the crack in the wall, Finn copied them a little bit unsure of what they were waiting for.  
Suddenly, Finn spotted a flash of white on the other side of the room. It was Poe’s white shirt. Finn almost called out in excitement but Rose shushed him again.

Poe was darting in and out of table and chair legs getting closer and closer to Phasma’s field of vision, which was still firmly set on the door and food in front of her.

Finn, Rose and Bee-Bee continued to watch Poe in anticipation. Poe let out a couple of squeaks and this finally got Phasma’s attention. Her head slowly turned in Poe’s direction.

He was off like a shot, determined to make the most of his head start, secure in the knowledge that Phasma would follow him. Sure Phasma had a size advantage but Poe was more agile at speed and was weaving his way round the kitchen as close to every obstacle to inhibit Phasma’s run. He then slide under the stove, a tiny gap that Phasma could only just stick her paw and nose into. She would be there awhile trying to catch her prize, but Poe was perfectly safe, there was another gap in the skirting board along the back wall for him to make his escape. That was why Poe and Rose had chosen it as the signal that it was safe for the others to make a break for it.

Rose grabbed Finn’s paw as she and Bee-Bee quickly made their way across the floor towards the open door.

It was very bright outside, and it took Finn’s eyes a moment to adjust. When they did, he could see they were in a small yard with a garden off to the side surrounded by crumbling out buildings and a well standing in the middle of the courtyard. Rey was there too, carrying some buckets.

Rose and Bee-Bee had gone on ahead and were sitting on top of a wall squeaking to get Rey’s attention. Finn could heard a strange clucking sound from the other side of the wall as he made his way to join them.

Rey put her buckets down and picked up a large canvas bag. “There you are,” said Rey as she approached them. “Though I wished you would have waited. You know how I feel about one of you distracting Phasma.” Finn noticed a sad look in her eyes.

“Poe-Poe safe,” squeaked Rose.

“I’m sure he is, but I still don’t like it.” Rey rested the bag and top of the wall. “As long as you’re here, you may as well have breakfast, just remember to take some Poe.” She reached into the bag and left a small handful of grains and seeds on the wall for her little mouse friends, before reaching back in and getting a bigger handful that she scattered on the other side of the wall.

The clucking noise intensified. Finn looked over the other side of the wall and the strange looking creatures scrambling around on spindly clawed legs and feet, peaking at the ground and each other to pick up the grains Rey had given them. Finn was glad Rey was kind and had left them food out of the reach of these creepy looking birds, their eyes unblinking in the feeding frenzy that he was observing. He would not have wanted to fight them for his breakfast.

So engrossed in watching the chickens, that he didn’t realise that Rose and Bee-Bee had finished eating their share and were ready to head back inside, each carrying a few grains for Poe.

“Come Finn-Finn, back inside,” Rose called behind her as she helped Bee-Bee off the wall. Finn slightly panicked, stuffed as much grain as he could into his mouth, quickly chewed and swallowed everything nearly whole. Not ideal, but he wouldn’t get distracted next time. He then balanced as many grains as he could in his little arms so that he could have a more leisurely meal, and share some with Poe of course.

Rose and Bee-Bee were waiting for him behind the open door. Finn could see that Phasma was still occupied under the stove, the way still clear for them to get back across the room. Rose looked at what he was carrying and shook her head before taking the lead and running back into the kitchen towards the crack in the skirting board.

Finn tried to keep up but it was difficult to balance all his food and keep pace with the others. Rose and Bee-Bee were almost back to the safety of the wall cavity, when Finn tripped over his own feet as he was going under the table. He let out a loud squeak of surprise as he fell face first onto the ground the grains scattering around him.

Unfortunately the sound caught Phasma’s attention. She turned her head, and saw Finn getting to his feet and scrambling round to pick up his fallen food. Seeing as she was getting no closer to catching the mouse under the stove, she decided to focus on the mouse foolish enough to sit out in the open.

Poe was alerted to the fact that something was going wrong by Phamsa slowly walking away. She never did that until Rey came back inside and shooed her away. He cautiously left the safe spot to get a better look, and was shocked to see that Phamsa was creeping up on Finn.

No, he thought. He wasn’t going to let this happen again. He was tired of making new best friends and wanted to keep one for a change. Without thinking too clearing, he grabbed the end of Phasma's tall and pulled as hard as he could. Phasma yowled in response, finally alerting Finn to his immediate danger. 

Finn abandoned his breakfast and started to make a run for it, not over to where Rose and Bee-Bee were hiding but back towards the open back door. Poe could open watch in horror as Phasma flicked her tail so hard he found himself flying across the room, landing too far away to help.

Finn ran as fast as his little legs, and new jacket, would let him, but he knew Phasma would be on him any moment. Inspiration suddenly struck however, when he caught sight of the white tablecloth hanging off the side of the table. Taking an almighty leap, he caught the edge with his front paws, pulled himself up and began to climb, knowing that Phasma was right behind him getting ready to do the same.

Finn was nowhere near the top when Phasma pounced. He felt he paws brush passed him and saw her claws grab into the cloth right by his head. But before she could deal a killing blow, gravity took effect and she went to land bringing the tablecloth and the tea set on top of it down on them.

There was a tangle of fabric and fur and the shattered remains of the tea set but in the confusion, Finn found a gap through which to escape. 

The sound of smashing china brought Rey running in from outside. She stopped just inside the doorway taking in the sight of the broken tea set, a wriggling mass under a tablecloth and Finn running across the room and into the crack in the skirting board, trying to assess what had happened. One thing was certain though, the mice were never allowed in the kitchen again.


	5. The Prince's Return

The prince’s procession thundered through the countryside and along the perimeter of the city walls, slowing down as it passed through the west-gate and along the streets towards the palace. People jumped out of the way as the mounted knights clattered past. The people, initially angered by the disruption, started to cheer when they realised it was the Queen’s army returning from battle, not only that but it was lead by the prince himself. Tall and strong, he looked magnificent dressed head to toe in black armour, on an equally tall and strong black horse.

Ben was glad of his helmet, it meant the people couldn’t see his tiredness or displeasure at their reaction of seeing him. For him the battle hadn’t been glorious, he had lost many good soldiers and good friends. Good friends who had risked their lives to rescue him when Lord Snoke had captured him and was trying to decide how many boxes he should he should send him back to his mother in.

But his knights had come through, storming the Castle Supremacy fighting their way to the dungeons to break him out, before fighting their way back only to end up in the throne room, confronted by Snoke and his elite praetorian guard. This fight was long and brutal but it ended with Ben landing the final killing blow on Snoke, sealing the victory for Naboo.

His knights followed close behind him all also dressed in black armour and helmets. The only one of their number without a helmet was Hux, a general in the army who enjoyed the attention. The red head indulged the crowd by waving and smiling at the crowd when the others would not.

Ben could not help but roll his eyes at his oldest friends antics, as he nodded at a group of giggling young women gathered in the doorway of a shop. They had shared lessons as children and played together in the palace gardens. That bond remained but their adult selves couldn’t have been more different.

All Ben wanted to do was go home where there was warm baths, clean sheets and his faithful old dog, Chewie, who he wished he could have bought with him but his mother said it would have been cruel to take such an old dog to the front, so Ben stayed lonely, sometimes sleeping in the mud, while Chewie got his every need seen to. May be his mother was right.

Ben and Hux pulled up as they approached the palace, this was their destination while the rest of the knights would continue to the barracks. They saluted each other as they passed and Ben and Hux made their way through the manned checkpoint into the palace grounds.

As glad as he was to be home, he was also dreading it. It was the first time he had been home since his father died which would no doubt make the tension between him and his uncle Luke, that had always been there, much worse.

As they approached the main courtyard, Ben was glad to see that his mother hadn’t put together a huge welcome party, and was even more pleased that she was meeting him alone, no Uncle Luke, just her and a couple of footmen to see to the horses.

Leia stood a few stairs up on the staircase leading up to the main entrance of the palace, looking regal in a long dark blue dress, her hair, considerably greyer than the last time he’d seen it, braided and pinned across her head in place of her crown.

They pulled up their horses at the bottom of the stairs and the footmen rushed out to hold their horses as they dismounted.

Hux was first to greet the Queen, knowing that the reunion between mother and son would be too awkward to follow.

“Your majesty,” he said as he took a deep bow in front of Leia. She smiled at him sweetly as he rose.

“Armitage.” she extended her hand to him, which he took and lightly kissed the back of it. “It’s good to have you back.” She had always liked Armitage. The outgoing son of one of the cooks had seemed a good choice of friend for the young prince, as Leia had hoped that it would encourage Ben come out of his shell a bit more. It hadn’t but they had remained friends, which was something.

“It’s good to be back ma’am,” Hux gave another smaller bow and stepped to the side out of the way, allowing Ben to approach.

Ben stood nearly eye level with his mother even though she was stood several steps higher than him. He gave a shallow bow befitting his rank. 

“Mother.” he didn’t really know what else to say, it had been years since they’d seen each other.

“Remove your helmet Ben, you don’t need it anymore,” Leia gently commanded.

Ben made no action to remove it. “What do you think you will see if I do?” 

Leia moved moved down a step. “The face of my son.” she replied.

Reaching up, he slowly removed his helmet. For the first time in years Leia saw the face of her grown son. So much like his father she thought, apart from his hair. Han’s wasn’t that dark and he never had it that long.

Ben just stood there feeling awkward as his mother studied his face. She reached up then and gently traced the deep red scar that went down the right side of his face. Her eyes searched his for answers. “A parting gift from Snoke,” he replied, trying to keep his tone light so not to worry his mother, but he knew she was.

“As long as that’s all he took?” Ben nodded and looked at the ground, not wanting his mother to see how affected by his experiences he really was. He didn’t want to think about it anymore. He wanted a quiet life, no more surprises, maybe go to Uncle Luke’s farm in Tatooine, without Uncle Luke of course.

Leia could sense her son was hurting. She gently pulled his head forward until it was resting on her left shoulder, right over her heart, an action that was so soothing to a child not matter their age. She could comfort him this way even if he didn’t want to talk.

Ben was initially shocked by her action, he hadn’t been held by his mother in so long, but it was nice. He eventually wrapped his arms around her waist. It was a bit uncomfortable in his armour but at least she was standing on the steps, meaning he didn’t have to bend down as well.

Leia was the first to pull back, remembering the unfortunate fact that she had to put being a queen over being a mother. She cupped his face in her two hands. His eyes were tearing up and so were hers.

“Now Ben, we have a lot to discuss, so why don’t you go to your rooms, get cleaned up and meet me in the east drawing room for tea?” Ben nodded and made his way up the stairs and into the palace with Hux trailing behind him.


	6. Cutting Corners

Luke hurried along the second floor east corridor towards the drawing room to have tea with his sister and nephew. He had precisely thirty four minutes before he had to go back down to the kitchens to confirm the menu for the ball with the cooks. Luke had been so busy all morning that he had forgotten his earlier warnings to Leia about Ben’s reaction to the ball. He did not have a good feeling about this.

As it so happened, Luke arrived at the drawing room at the exact same time as Ben and Hux. Both uncle and nephew stiffened at the sight of the other. It had been a long time since they had been in the same room together.

The General cheerfully greeted the Duke but the Prince just glared at his uncle.

A footman opened the doors to the drawing room to reveal a table already set for tea and Leia waiting for them. 

Without a single word to one another, all three entered the room and took their place around the table.

“It’s so nice to sit and have tea with my family again,” Leia said as she smiled at Ben and Luke, but she could sense the tension between them. “And you too Armitage.”

Hux sat awkwardly between uncle and nephew, looking and feeling like the odd one out. “I’m sorry for intruding ma’am, but my mother shooed me out of the kitchen when I tried to see her,” he said apologetically.

“Nonsense, your always welcome and I’m sure she was busy,” Luke nodded in agreement knowing what was going on down there. “Besides I have a favour to ask you,” Hux nodded in reply as a couple of servants began to pour them tea and set up plates of small cakes and sandwiches in the middle of the table.

“Now Ben, would you like a cinnamon roll? I got them made especially.” Leia said hopefully as she offered him the plate of small sugary pastries covered in thick white icing.

Ben couldn’t help but give Leia a small smile, she remembered his favourite after all this time. “Thank you mother,” he took one and put it straight in his mouth, savouring the taste. It was so good and it had been a while since he had had anything but army rations. He put a another couple on his plate for later.

“Your welcome darling,” she smiled a genuinely happy smile as she helped herself to her own sweet treat.

Luke smiled into his teacup as the others started a conversation on safe topics; the weather, horses and how Chewie had been behaving while Ben was away. It would be good for Leia to have her son back and he was willing to work on his relationship with his nephew for her, as long as Ben was also willing. It was a shame The Ball was looming over them.

“Since you are home safe from the war, we are hosting a Ball in your honor tomorrow nigh…” Leia barely finished her sentence before a frown returned to Ben’s face.

“No.” He said getting up abruptly. “You have no right to ambush me like this,” and with that he stormed out of the room.

Everyone was a bit shocked by his outburst, but Luke was hardly surprised. Hux was visibly confused.

“Armitage, we’ll explain what’s going on later but for now the favour I ask of you is to keep Ben here and keep him sober.” Leia addressed the general after she regained her composure.

“Er, yes, ma’am,” Hux said before rushing off to find his friend, leaving Luke and Leia alone.

“Well,” Luke said after a moment or two of silence.

“Don’t say it. Don’t even think it.” Leia pointed her finger at him. He couldn’t help but smirk a little, Leia hated it when he was right.

“To be honest, I didn’t think he’d figure it out so quickly.” Leia just glared at him.

“Go talk to him,” Leia commanded.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea Leia.” Luke said in all seriousness. There was a high probability that Ben wouldn’t even let him talk to him, let alone be able to talk him round.

“Go talk to him, or I’m sending you back to Tatooine.”

“When can I leave?” he asked mockingly. Honestly going back to Tatooine would solve all his problems, but he loved his sister too much to abandon her here.

“Luke!”

“Fine. But this isn’t going to go the way you think,” Luke reluctantly left the room in search of his nephew.

Luckily the search didn’t take that long as Hux had somehow managed to get Ben back to his chambers and Luke could hear him shouting from down the corridor.

“I don’t see why…” Hux was the quieter of the two owing to the aura of calmness that he seemed to radiate

“Because Hux, they’re forcing me to get married,” Luke heard the sound of something being tipped out. “A Ball is the is just a thinly veiled attempt to push some girl on me and announce an engagement.”

“I don’t know. It might not be so bad, you might actually like her.”

“It’s not that. It’s the fact everything’s been decided. I wasn’t consulted. I have no choice!”

It’s now or never thought Luke as he knocked hard on the door.

“What!” Ben shouted. Luke took a deep breath and entered.

“No! Get out!” Ben gestured towards the door. His eyes were wild, his hair a mess. “I don’t want you in here.” A couple of chairs were lying on their sides, casualties of his rage. Old faithful Chewie cowered slightly behind Hux who stood at the side of the room not sure what to do but not willing to leave.

“Leia sent me to explain,” Luke ignored Ben’s command and stepped a little further into the room. He was doing this for Leia after all.

“And I don’t want to hear it!” Ben shouted back and began to pace again.

“Maybe I should go,” Hux said as he shuffled towards the door. He had forgotten about all the Royal Family drama while he had been away.

“Good, take him with you,” Ben said over his shoulder.

“I’m not going anywhere Ben,” Luke said defiantly.

“Then Hux, you should stay. I may need a witness,” Hux stopped where he was and looked at both the other men in the room, slightly alarmed at what might happen.

“I should probably start off by apologising. I’m sorry Ben,” 

“I’m sure you are!” Ben sat down on the bed in a huff, arms folded, looking more like a thirteen year old rather than a nearly thirty year old. “Go on then. What excuse are you going to use to explain why you were stood over my bed in the middle of the night with your sword drawn?”

Hux turned and frowned at Luke who at least had the decency to look ashamed.

“I was in a dark place Ben,” Luke said slowly, focusing his glaze on the corner of the rug. “I was in no position to have you staying with me, but I did because Leia asked me to. I wasn’t sleeping. I remember I was hallucinating, I don’t remember what about, but it was bad and that’s what lead me to your room that night.” Luke looked up at his nephew to get his reaction but Ben was staring at the wall opposite. Just as well he thought.

“I have since gotten help and am trying to do the same for your mother,” Ben snapped his head round to face his uncle.

“What’s wrong with my mother?” he asked his voice much quieter than before.

“When we heard what happened to you,” Ben swallowed thickly and looked away. “Something snapped inside her and she became a shadow of herself, the grief almost consumed her. But I never left her, I’ve been helping her, talking with her, encouraging her to eat and brush her hair. Because that is what is needed, someone there to help. Someone I didn’t have at the time.”

Ben had gone back to staring at the wall, absentmindedly scratching Chewie; who sensing a change in his owners mood, had come over and put his head on his knee; behind the ear.

“Ben, have you been experiencing something like this too?” Luke asked quietly, though he had an idea of the answer.

Ben nodded still staring at the wall, blinking back the tears the truth had brought up. But he would not cry in front of his uncle and even though he did not completely forgive Luke, he was willing to be civil and work on the relationship for Leia’s sake if not his own.

“Bad dreams,” he said quietly. “Is this girl you’ve found ready for that?”

“What? Oh,” Luke had kind of forgotten about the Ball for a minute. “I don’t know. That’s up to you.”

“What?” Ben looked at his uncle again. “But haven’t you been planning this?”

“Yes since about half past nine this morning,” Hux and Ben looked at each other then back at Luke. “When Leia informed me that she wanted every eligible maid in the kingdom to be invited to a Ball tonight.”

“How did she expect you to do that?” asked Hux. Luke just shrugged.

“I have no idea. The only concession I got her to make was to push it back to tomorrow. As for the rest of it…” he gestured at everything and nothing. “I’m cutting so many corners, I’m left with a circle.” Luke suddenly felt the weight of everything come back to him all at once. How was he going to keep this up for another twenty-four hours?

“So who exactly is coming?” Hux was quite looking forward to the Ball, it would be good to get out into society again.

“I’ve sent invitations to all unmarried women between the ages of twenty and thirty from upper and upper middle class backgrounds from the city because we needed to set some parameters and standards.”

“And how many people is that?” asked Ben.

“About two thousand,” Ben’s jaw dropped. “Not to mention all of the other people they will bring with them. But I’m only planning on a turnout of less than a quarter due to the short notice.”

“That’s still five hundred! How am I supposed to choose from that in the course of an evening?”

“That I cannot answer, but this is what your mother wants for you, I’d go talk to her,” Luke said softly.

Before Ben could reply, there was a soft knock at the door. Being the closest, Luke opened it to find Mitaka on the other side. To make up for the incident at breakfast, Luke had made Mitaka his personal assistant for the planning process. Whether that was a reward or not remained to be seen, but he was doing a good job so far.

“Sorry to interrupt your Grace, but you are due down in the kitchens now, then you need to confirm the deliveries and inspect the…” Mitaka would have continued to read the entire to-do list from his ledger if Luke didn’t stop him.

“Yes Mitaka, I’ll be down in one moment,” he softly closed the door again so he could say one last thing to Ben.

“So you’ll do this?”

“For mother I will,”

“Then that’s all I’ll ask for,” Luke nodded at Hux so that he remembered his promise to Leia and left with Mitaka to finish planning.

“Well,” Hux said when they were alone again. But Ben wasn’t in the mood to listen to anyone else. He just flopped back on the bed, startling Chewie, and pulled a pillow over his face so he could scream into it.


	7. If

The longest job of the day was washing the tiled floor in the entryway of the chateau. It wouldn’t be so bad, Rey thought if she didn’t have to listen to Bazine and Unamo’s pitiful attempt at a music lesson.

She knew full well that the mice sat watching her from atop the Grandfather clock, had stuffed old pillow fluff in their ears to block out the sound. Even Phasma, who was crouched under a sideboard, had her paws over her ears. But Rey had learnt the hard way that she couldn’t get away with it.

As she mopped, she kept a close eye on the animals. After this morning’s incident, she wasn’t going to let any of them out of her sight, even if it meant having them in the same room, at least she’d be able to intervene this way.

The mice had been celebrating Finn’s defeat of Phasma all day. Rey just hoped it didn’t go to his head. She didn’t see it that way. She’d almost lost another little friend after only knowing him an hour. As for Phasma, she was still sulking and Rey was pretty sure she was planning her revenge.

As for the evidence of the incident, the shattered remains of the tea set were inside an old pillowcase hidden behind a stack of firewood ready for Rey to dispose of later. Luckily no-one had noticed the change in china, so Rey thought she might just get away with it.

The motion of mopping was almost calming if it weren’t for the plethora of bum notes being hit upstairs or the list of things she still needed to do that day running through her head. There was the light coloured laundry, the mending, the gardening, the upstairs fireplace needed…

Her list was interrupted by a knock on the front door, startling her enough that she nearly knocked the bucket over as she was wringing out her mop.

Rey smoothed down her hair and outfit in case the visitor was important and took the mop with her in case they weren’t.

The visitor had also drawn the attention of the animals in the room. She could hear the mice discussing how they could get a better look but she willed that they didn’t as Phasma had also creeped out of her hiding place and was creeping around the side of the room as if she wished to be unnoticed.

Opening the door, Rey was greeted by a short man dressed in the white livery of a palace footman. Rey stared at him for a moment, why on Earth was someone from the palace calling here?

“Good day miss,” he sounded tired but tried to give a polite smile. “Would you be much obliged to get these to your master?” he took four envelopes from the massive brown bag his was carrying, double checked them and handed them to Rey.

“What are they?” she asked as she took them. Each envelope was pristine white with silver edging and sealed with pale blue wax stamped with the palace seal.

“Invitations to the Prince’s Ball tomorrow night miss,” he answered.

“Oh,” she said. It must be nice to be a prince and invite everyone to a party, she thought bitterly.

“Goodbye miss,” he tipped his hat to her sheepishly, clearly needing to be on his way. It was then that Rey noticed the number of envelopes still in his bag and the dust that was covering some of his clothes. He must be doing this all day, she thought.

Rey closed the door as he turned to leave. She looked down at the four envelopes he had given her. Wait. Four? That couldn’t be right. She looked through them. There was one for Bazine, one for Unamo, one for Plutt and the last one was addressed to Reyla.

Initially Rey’s face broke out into a huge smile at the thought of being invited somewhere, of being included. But then it dropped in confusion, why had someone like her been invited to a ball? She was currently mopping a floor.

“Oh well these seem important,” she said to no-one in particular. “They can’t blame me for interrupting the music lesson.”

She made her way upstairs and was walking across the landing when the music suddenly stopped and Rey heard what sounded like Unamo hitting Bazine with her flute followed by a unintelligible argument between the two young ladies. Rey rolled her eyes as she heard Plutt trying to calm them down, spouting off about having dignity at all times. She knocked.

“What!” roared Plutt. So much for having dignity thought Rey.

“Cindereyla, what have I told you about interrupting our music lesson?” he bellowed, his entire bold head turning red.

“I wouldn’t normally, but an invitation has just arrived from the palace.” Rey held out the three envelopes, trying to keep hers hidden behind her back along with her mop.

“From the palace!” Bazine and Unamo rushed forward, snatched the envelopes from her hand and eagerly ripping it open.

“You are hereby invited to a Masquerade Ball tomorrow evening in honour of the Prince!” the sisters read aloud together followed by an ear piercing excited screech that made Rey wince.

“A Ball at the palace,” Bazine said wistfully.

“A chance to dance with the Prince,” Unamo said clutching the invitation to her chest.

“Father, we have to go,” demanded Bazine, returning to her usual bratty nature.

“Of course my dears. You’ll…”

“Why, that means I can go as well.” Rey interrupted. The others just stared at her.

“You dancing with the Prince?” Bazine said unkindly.

“I’d be honoured Your Highness.” Unamo said mockingly, while doing an inelegant curtsy. “Would you mind holding my broom?” With that both sisters started giggling and doing a mock waltz.

Rey gritted her teeth, she was used to them doing this by now.

“I don’t see why not. I do have an invitation.” she said holding it out in front of her. Bazine and Unamo stopped dancing and joined their father in staring at the envelope.

A brief look of panic washed over Unkar Plutt’s face but he quickly pushed it aside and composed himself.

“Well I see no reason why you can’t go,” He took her invitation from her. Rey went to grab it back but he stopped her. “If you get all your work done.”

“I promise I will,”

“And if you find something suitable to wear,”

“I’m sure I can, thank you.” and with that Rey left the room trying not to look too excited. She had a lot still to do, but if her parents returned tomorrow and she got to go to the Ball. No not if, she corrected herself, when. When her parents returned tomorrow, it would be the best birthday ever.

Through their father’s exchange with Rey, Bazine and Unamo just stared at each their, their mouths open is disbelief, but remained silent. Why on Earth would he let Cindereyla go to the Ball?

“Father, do you realise what you just said?” Bazine exclaimed when they were alone again.

“Of course,” he said tapping the edge of Rey’s envelope. “I said if.” he smirked as he saw them realise his meaning.

“Oh,” the sisters turned to each other with matching evil grins. “If.”


	8. Before The Ball

Ben stayed in his room, he didn’t know how long he lay on his bed or whether or not he fell asleep, but when he finally decided to get up, he saw that Hux had tidied up his room, gone and found some food, and taken care of Chewie.

Ben silently thanked his friend as he sat down for his first meal back at the palace. The meal was rather basic but he was used to that, as the Ball was tomorrow, it was just simple meals being sent out, no special orders today.

The rest of the evening was mainly silent as Hux and Ben played several games of cards like they did in the army camp. Chewie was the most animated out of the three despite his old age, glad to have his master back.

Eventually Hux left so they could both get some sleep. It had been a long day, but Ben wasn’t looking forward to the prospect of a night alone even if he’d get to spend it in a proper bed.

Soon enough the urge to sleep over took Ben. It started off dreamless but soon took a dark turn and Ben began to panic as he felt the walls begin to close in and he thrashed out against the unseen captors that surrounded him.

Ben woke with a start as he felt something heavy land on his chest. He couldn’t move. Breathing heavily he began to become more aware of his surroundings. It was a soft mattress beneath him not a cold stone floor. Instead of being cold and damp the air was fresh and warm. Well, mostly fresh, there was an odd familiar smell and Ben was getting very warm and furry.

He was snapped back to reality by a wet nose repeatedly pushing against his neck and cheek. It was Chewie. He had climbed up on Ben’s bed and looking into his brown eyes he could see worry in his old dogs eyes, despite the darkness of the room.

“It’s OK boy,” Ben said to Chewie trying not to let his voice crack. “I’ll be OK, just don’t leave me.” Whenever he was upset as a child, Ben would always cling to Chewie, burying his head in Chewie’s long brown fur until the tears passed. And that’s exactly what he did now. Honestly Ben had no idea how Chewie was still alive considering he was now in his mid-twenties. But that sad thought could be pushed aside for now, as Ben needed his furry friend more than ever.  
\---  
Rey spent the rest of the day finishing off her to do list and trying to avoid the rest of the family because every time she thought she had nearly finished, one of them found her and gave her something else to do. First Unamo wanted all her stockings mending, then Bazine gave her a ball of necklaces to untangle and then Plutt gave her his shoes to shine.

Before she knew it, it was time to prepare the dinner, which Unamo and Bazine barely touched because they were watching their figures in preparation for the Ball tomorrow. But Rey didn’t care about that she was just glad that she would be going to bed with a full stomach for once.

It wasn’t until long after everyone else had had their nightly baths and gone to bed that Rey finished clearing up and finally got time for herself. She was so tired as she made her way up the stairs to her room, not really having the energy to start work on her dress but knowing she had to if she wanted to go.

“Rey-Rey!” the mice cheered as she entered the room. “We help with dressy!” They held out different pieces of sewing equipment. Rey couldn’t help but laugh at how adorable her little mice friends looked and how excited they were to help. It was enough to give her the encouragement she needed to get to work.

Lighting as many candles as she felt safe doing, she got out the rest of her sewing kit and the one piece of clothing she had been keeping safe all these years.

“Do you like it?” she asked the mice as she held an olive green dress up against herself for them to see. “It was my mother’s.” It was and it also appeared to be the only piece of fine clothing the woman owned.

“Itsa old looking,” squeaked Rose and the others nodded in agreement.

“It may be a little old fashioned,” Rey agreed trying not to sound too disappointed. “But I can try and fix that I’m sure she won’t mind once I explain to her why.”

Rose and Poe looked at each other sympathetically, like they could see the truth that Rey couldn’t.

“So let's get started shall we,” Rey said as she sat down on the floor. “Bee-Bee, pass me the unpicker please.” Her first job was to replace the yellowing lace with a much nicer sample she had saved from one of Bazine’s old dresses. She would then repair what damage she could, even if that just meant sewing a bow made of ribbon over the top of it. Then if there was time she would do something about the neckline, but she didn’t think that was a priority.  
\---  
Ben was vaguely aware if the palace clock striking the hour when he awoke, his arms still around Chewie, who then proceeded to wake him up further by licking his face.

“Alright, alright, I’m up.” Ben said laughing as he tried to push the hairy beast away.

There was a knock at the door and Ben immediately regretted his decision. At some point during the night he had forgotten all about the Ball. He now wondered if it was too late to make a run for it.

Hux didn’t wait for a response before he barged in followed by several footman carrying trays of food and various other things.

“I’m sorry Hux, I seem to be trapped under this furry mountain.” Ben pulled Chewie so he was sat on him a bit more. “So I’m afraid you’ll just have to tell my uncle to cancel the Ball.”

Hux looking unimpressed, turned to one of the accompanying footmen, who gave a shrill whistle that got Chewie’s attention. With tongue out and tail wagging, Chewie got up off Ben rather heavily and lumbered off the bed and out the door after the footman.

“Traitor!” Ben shouted after them. He then turned back to Hux, who stood there with an eyebrow raised. “What?”

“I’ve brought you breakfast, which you better eat quickly as Master Calrissian will be here any minute.”

Before Ben could question the fact that Lando Calrissian, Master of the Robes, was still working at the palace, an older, dark gentleman sashayed into the room with two assistants. He was wearing a bright blue silk shirt with a matching cape just like Ben remembered him doing.

He stood in the entrance way with arms outstretched and a bright wide smile under his, now greying, moustache. “How’s my little star fighter?” he called across to Ben. Really this homecoming could not get any worse.  
\---  
Rey awoke when she felt a sharp tug on her hair.

“Clock strike! Clock strike!” came a high pitched voice right in her ear. Opening her eyes she was confronted by a sea of green. Slightly confused she slowly sat up and became aware of a pain in her neck and lower back. She yawned and stretched hoping it would come back to her when she opened her eyes again.

“Happy Birthday Rey-Rey!” the mice cheered. Her birthday? Her birthday! The day her parents were coming back and the day of the Ball. But why was she on the floor? She looked again at the green fabric covering her legs. Her dress! She must have fallen asleep on the floor as soon as she’d finished it.

Getting up a little too quickly she held the dress up to inspect it. Not bad she thought as she looked at herself in the mirror. “Thank you guys,” she said as she turned to face her little friends. They had attempted to help her last night but she had to put a stop to it when Finn nearly cut Rose’s tail off with a pair of scissors, and it looked like she still hadn’t forgiven him.

“You know I’m really looking forward to today,” she laid her dress out neatly on her bed ready to change into later. Rey then went over to the wall to make today’s mark, smiling at the thought of it being her last.

“Breakfast time?” asked Finn. He didn’t like Rose being mad at him and wanted to redeem himself like he did yesterday. Plus he was hungry.

“No,” Rey said sternly. The mice groaned. “No you are not going in the kitchen again. Stay here and I’ll bring you something when I can.” And with that she left to get on with the day’s work, not caring that she had slept in yesterday’s clothes or hadn’t brushed her hair.  
\---  
Ben felt like he had been stood in front of the mirror for hours being pulled this way and that being stuck with pins as Lando and his assistants made alterations to his outfit for the Ball. Luke had chosen a black army dress uniform for him to wear, which Ben was thankful for, but he hadn’t realised it needed to be altered so much.

Throughout the whole process, Hux just sat casually on a chair, reading a book and eating grapes out of the fruit bowl. Ben could see his reflection in the mirror.

“What are you wearing?” Ben asked.

Hux looked up from his book. “Same as you just with less braiding, which makes no sense because I out rank you.”

“In the army maybe, but I out rank you socially,” Ben looked at the reflection of his friend, neither’s reflection gave anything away. “So when are you getting all this done?” he began to fiddle with his cuffs as soon as the assistants released his arms.

“Oh, I’m not,” Hux said smugly. “Dress uniforms don’t need to be altered.”

“What!” Ben turned to face Hux, interrupting Lando’s work, then to the man himself. “Then why have I been stood here all morning?”

“Because we need to make you look like a Prince,” Ben remained silent but narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists. “More appealing to the ladies,” he added in a smooth tone. Lando ignored this as after all he had known the Prince all his life and there was a lot still to do before the Ball.

“Speaking of which, we are finished with the uniform.” The assistants helped him out of the uniform slowly because of the pins and loose stitches. “We’ll be bring it back this afternoon for a final fitting.”

“We’ve only had one fitting.” mumbled Ben as he put some ordinary clothes on.

Lando pretended not to hear him. “Your mother is also going to be sending one of her hair stylists. It seems she doesn’t care for your current style and frankly I agree with her.” Hux started to laugh, but covered it up with a cough as Ben turned to glare at him.

“Anything else you need to do to me?” Ben said through gritted teeth.

“Yes. Sit down I need to take a mould for a mask.”

“What for?”

“It’s a Masquerade.” Hux said as Lando tipped Ben’s head back and began to apply stuff to his face. “The Duke decided it would be better for you to make a decision that wasn’t based on the girls’ face, so you would actually have to talk to them. Which to me doesn’t make much sense because you can still see their bodies.” He wiggled his eyebrows, but Ben didn’t see. He was too busy concentrating on his breathing, trying not to have another outburst.

For one thing, Lando was touching his scar, something that felt too personal for him to be doing. For another it was being covered up. “It means they aren’t going to see how deformed I am.” he said aloud without meaning to.

Hux knew what he had been through, been with him in the hospital tent. “It’s not that bad. And anyway didn’t your Grandfather have a similar scar?”  
\---  
“Tighter!” Unamo shouted. Rey pulled on the drawstring of her corset. “Tighter!” she said again slightly gasping. Rey adjusted her hold on the strings so she could pull again. “Perfect,” she said breathlessly. Rey was glad she didn’t have a corset for her dress. The things Bazine and Unamo did for the sake of fashion and beauty baffled her.

She had been busy all day helping the girls get ready; drawing them baths, setting their hair in curlers, ironing out their dresses and doing last minute repairs; that she still hadn’t brushed her hair and would probably only have time to wash face before it was time to go to the ball.

She had also been so busy that she hadn’t given much thought to her parents’ return, but now as Bazine pushed her out of their room so they could finish getting ready on their own, she had the time. The day was nearly done and it was nearly time to leave for the Ball.

Rey clenched and unclenched her fists anxiously as she paced in the hallway for no particular reason. They were meant to come back for her today, that was what she’d been telling herself for so long. So where were they?

A knock at the front door got her attention. It was them, it had to be! A huge grin spread across Rey’s face as she ran down the stairs to open the door. They had come back and they were going to throw Plutt and his horrid daughters out of their house and they could be a family again.

Rey forcefully yanked open the door ready to throw her arms round whoever was on the other side. But she stopped herself and the smile dropped from her face as she was met by a man she didn’t recognise. It was just the driver of the carriage Plutt had hired to take them to the Ball.

Feeling deflated, Rey slowly made her way back upstairs to tell him the carriage had arrived. He answered his bedroom door in his shirt sleeves and seemed rather pleased to see her still in her usual beige outfit.

“Why are you not ready for the Ball Cindereyla? Are you not going?” he asked smugly.

Rey paused for a moment. Should she not go to the Ball and wait for her parents to return? Or should she go only for them to find that she was not there?

“No, I’m going,” Rey said having made up her mind. They had made her wait fifteen years, she could made them wait a few hours. “I’m just going to get ready, won’t be long.” Rey quickly turned away and started to run back to her room, so she didn’t see Plutt narrow his eyes at her. Besides, she was too busy thinking about what to do with her hair.  
\---  
“I’m going to see my mother,” Ben announced as he got up from his chair. The Ball was still a couple of hours away and he was getting restless, and fed up of people doing things to him. His mother’s stylist had just left having washed, cut and styled is hair. He didn’t want to admit it but it did feel nice and airy and soft and still covered his ears.

“I know where I’m going Hux,” Ben said as the general followed him out of his room.

“I’m just making sure you are going where you say you are going.”

“I think I have behaved well enough today to warrant the reward of going to visit my mother on my own.”

“I suppose as you didn’t storm out the room, make anyone cry or break anything, I’ll wait for you outside.” They were now outside the door to his mother’s rooms.

“I was going to make you do that anyway.” Ben hissed as the guards stationed outside let him in.

Once inside, he was shown into his mother’s dressing room where she was sat in a navy dressing gown, simultaneously getting a manicure, her makeup done and hair braided. She opened on eye at the sound of the door opening and followed her son’s reflection in the mirror as he walked across the room behind her.

“Ah, Ben. Your hair is looking so much better now. Well done Greer.” The young woman braiding her hair blushed as she smiled, but carried on with her work.

“Mother might I have a word in private.”

“Of course. Ladies, get to a suitable stopping point and we’ll continue this later.” One by one Leia’s handmaidens got to their finishing places and left together. Once they had gone she turned to face her son, only to see the hurt in his eyes.

“Why?” was all he could say, barely above a whisper.

“Oh Ben,” she got up and went to him. “As the one who wears the crown I need to protect it and this is the only way. I know you probably think I’m being selfish now, but when you are King you will understand.” she squeezed his hand to try and make him look at her.

“But how am I going to do it mother?” he asked when he did. “There may be five hundred people, there may be two thousand. How am I supposed to find the right person?”

Leia smiled softly. “It may not sound helpful but you just know.” Ben frowned. She was right, that wasn’t helpful at all.

“When I first laid eyes on you father, I knew there was something about him. I could feel it in my stomach.”

“Probably the alcohol,” muttered Ben. Leia lightly hit him on the arm as she went to get something out of her wardrobe.

“Seasickness, if you’re going to joke about it.” she called out behind her.

Ben bit back another sassy remark as she returned with a small wooden box.

“The story of how I met your father may not sound romantic but when he took me back to his cabin,”

Ben cringed. “I don’t think I need to know where this is going.”

“Oh hush! Not like that! It was just so that I would be comfortable while they took me back to shore. Anyway we passed to time by playing cards and dice, and when we both reached for the dice, our hands met and that’s when I knew he was the one for me.”

Leia opened the box to reveal a pair of golden dice connected by a short chain. “We kept them as a symbol of our love. And now I want you to have them,” Ben carefully removed them from their box and stared at them as he rolled them round it his palm. “Keep them as a reminder that love is the most powerful force of all and if it’s meant to be, it will make itself known. Whether it be between a princess and a sailor, or...”

“Pirate mother. He was a pirate.”

“I think you’ll find his occupation was listed as Privateer in the Queen’s Navy on our marriage certificate.”

“You haven’t proved me wrong,”

“Or," Leia said trying to get back to her original point. "Or between a young queen and a knight who was born a slave.”  
\---  
“Look Rey-Rey! We made you pressy!” Rey was in the middle of trying to pin her hair into a half decent bun when her little friends appeared from behind one of the many boxes in her room, pulling something behind them.

“Oh wow guys this is amazing,” she crouched down to pick up whatever they had brought her. It was a mask. They had obviously made it themselves from different materials they had found around the room. “Thank you so much.” she had been so busy that she had forgotten the Ball was a Masquerade.

She held the mask in front of her face and looked in the mirror. Overall she was very pleased with her look and felt pretty for the first time. Even though Rey knew she probably wouldn’t have another opportunity to dress up she was beginning to see the appeal.

“Well I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” she turned and smiled at the little mice. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“Bye-bye Rey-Rey,” they called after her as she left the room. They were excited for her. She worked too hard, so it was nice for her to do something fun for a change.

Rey made her way downstairs silently as she didn’t have any heels to wear so had settled for flats which she didn’t think would matter as her dress was long enough to cover her feet.

When she got to the top of the stairs, she could hear Plutt telling his daughters how beautiful they looked and how there was a high probability that one of them could snare the Prince. Rey wanted to roll her eyes. Poor Prince. They did look beautiful with their hair curled and piled high and complimenting dresses in red and green that cinched their waists, but Rey knew that beneath all that they were cold and cruel and that any man with a heart should stay well away from them.

Rey let out a small cough to alert them to her presents as she made her way down the stairs to the ground floor.

“Cindereyla?” they all seemed stunned to see her.

“What on Earth are you wearing?” Bazine said struggling to hold back her laugh.

“It was my mother’s old dress. I took it in myself,”

“That explains it,” muttered Unamo.

“I hate to break it to you, but your mother’s taste was questionable. This is a ridiculous old fashioned joke,” Bazine came up to Rey, towering above her with her hair and heels.

“Father you can’t let her go. It would ruin our chances with the Prince if we are seen arriving with her.” Unamo whined tugging on Plutt’s sleeve, but her remained silent.

“I wouldn’t,” Rey stepped away from Bazine so she could get her point across. “I’ll go in by myself. I’ll stay in back far away from you. I’ll even find my own way home. Please. We had a deal.”

“You’re right, we had a deal,” Plutt said coolly.

“But father!” Bazine and Unamo began to protest, but he held up his hand to silence them.

“If you got all your work done, which you have, and found something to wear, though I find this dress far from suitable it is better than anything else I’ve seen you wear; then you can go to the Ball.”

Rey began to smile and stand up straighter knowing that she had got one over on Unamo and Bazine. It was short lived.

“However, there is a certain amount of respect I expect from you, after all that I’ve done for you, given you a home and job when you’d otherwise be out on the streets.”

Rey disagreed with both of these points but held her tongue.

Plutt then walked over to one of the sideboards and picked up something that was sat next to it. Rey’s eyes widened as she recognised the old pillowcase and heard the sound of the broken tea set rattling around inside. How had he found that?

“I do not expect the wilful destruction of my property.” Plutt said loudly not quite shouting.

“No, it was an accident,” Rey said needing to defend herself. “You see Phasma jumped on the table and…”

“Silence!” Plutt shouted making her jump. “Someone like you doesn’t deserve to go to the Ball.” He picked up her invitation and ripped it up several times, letting the pieces flutter down to the floor.

Rey’s face fell as she literally watched her dreams get ripped to pieces. She held her tears back, she would not cry in front of them. She barely registered Bazine’s cruel laugh or the smug look on Unamo’s face as they left for the Ball. How could they be like this to her? All she wanted to do was go to a party on her birthday.


	9. You Shall Go To The Ball

Rey went back to her room to change, there was no point in wearing the dress if she had nowhere to go. She felt so angry and sad at the same time that she felt the need to rip the dress, just like Plutt had ripped her invitation, but in the end she didn’t have the heart to do so. Instead, she just kicked it into a corner, the spiders and moths could have it.

She was gentler with her mask, after all the mice had made it for her. She put it in the drawer next to the mouse sized clothes and other sad memories.

They were surprised to see her back so soon. “Rey-Rey not go to Ball?” asked Poe looking concerned.

“No. Rey-Rey stay here,” she replied. She tried to keep it together but failed as the tears started to roll down her face as she slumped to the floor.

The four little mice rushed over to comfort her, they could feel her pain. They knew how much she was looking forward to the ball, little Bee-Bee was crying too. Rey picked him up and began to stroke him, hoping to calm them both down.

After sitting in her room long enough, she got up to wander the dark empty chateau with the mice perched on her shoulders. The question was, what to do now?

There was always her usual evening chores, but she was worn out from the past couple of days. She could steal a bottle of wine from Plutt’s collection as revenge, she had done that when she was sixteen but she didn’t like the way it made her feel so she hadn’t done it since. There was probably time to make and eat a birthday cake, the mice would certainly help, but as much as she appreciated them, she wanted to be around people on her birthday, at the Ball or with her parents.

Her walk took her back to the entrance hall where the remains of her invitation still lay scattered on the floor. Sighing she picked them all up. It was a cruel joke played on her by the universe, to be invited to something so exciting and not being allowed to go. She put the scraps of paper in her pocket and went to sit outside. 

The night was quite mild, the sun had set not that long ago and the stars were beginning to come out. Rey thought that looking at the stars was as good a thing as any to do, so sat on a bench, hugged her knees, and stared at the sky.

She tried to keep her mind on the stars, but hearing the palace clock strike only made her think of what could have been.

She could also hear some sort of wagon making its way down the road past the house. It was too small to be taking anyone to the Ball and she could also hear what sounded like pots and pans banging together. At least there is someone else out there who isn’t at the Ball thought Rey.

Suddenly there was a loud bang and cracking sound from the other side of the wall followed by a string of colourful curses from what must have been the owner of the wagon.

Rey decided to go and see if she could help, it wasn’t like she had anything else to do.

Going out into the street she found a very short and frustrated elderly woman kicking the side of a small wagon piled with an assortment of seemingly random objects, that was being pulled by a grey donkey.

“I could help you fix that if you like,” Rey said. She tried not to jump when the old woman turned around to stare at her with eyes that had been magnified by the thick glasses she was wearing. 

The stern expression she was wearing instantly changed to a more cheerful one. “Could you deary? I would be much obliged.” Rey smiled too as she went back to the yard to get the materials and tools she would need.

“There all done,” Rey stood up after fixing the wheel. “It’s just a patch job put it should hold until you are able to get a new wheel.”

“Thank you deary,” the old lady, who had introduced herself to Rey as Maz, got up from the perch she had taken on a old tree stump. “Now tell me why is a lovely young lady such as yourself not at the Ball?”

Rey was a bit taken back my Maz’s question. “I...I’m..” she stammered wondering how she should answer. “I’m waiting for someone.”

“Dear child,” Maz took Rey’s hand and pulled her down so they were at the same level. “I see it in your eyes. Whomever it is that you’re waiting for, they’re never coming back.” Rey started crying again. Maybe she did already knew this, it was just too painful to admit. 

“The belonging you seek it not behind you, it is ahead.” Maz cupped Rey cheeks and wiped away her tears. “Which is why you should be at the Ball.”

“But how? I have no way of getting there, nothing suitable to wear and no invitation.” she took the ripped invitation out of her pocket and held it was Maz to see.

“That’s easily fixed,” Maz took the scraps of paper from Rey and began to rub them together between her fingers. Rey watched in disbelief as the number of scraps became less and less as the pieces were somehow fused together until they formed a complete invitation once more.

Maz handed it back to Rey who was rather stunned. She studied the invitation under the lantern light. It looked just like it did before, no sign of having been ripped to pieces. They would let her into the Ball with this.

“How did you..?” Rey was too stunned to continue. Maz just smiled.

“Now, I need a pumpkin,” she wandered off into the garden leaving Rey in the road. Realising she should probably follow her, Rey scrambled to her feet and rushed after her.

The vegetable patch was something Rey was quite pleased with and one of her favourite jobs around the house. It was nice to get out into the garden and watch the vegetables grow and it gave her some pride to know that she was making meals with ingredients that she had grown herself.

The pumpkin harvest had been quite good that year and there was a few for Maz to choose from. She selected the biggest one and shocked Rey as she carried it into the middle of the yard with barely any effort, going against her weak and frail outward appearance.

“You might want to stand back,” Maz warned as she removed a thin glowing stick from her sleeve. She muttered she words Rey didn’t quite catch and suddenly the entire pumpkin became to glow. The light became bigger and brighter, so much so that Rey had to shield her eyes and look away. Then as suddenly as it had started, it ebbed away, allowing her to look again.

Her jaw dropped as she gazed upon a golden carriage that stood in the place once occupied by the pumpkin.

“Its-a wunder-fee,” Rey heard her little mouse friends cooing from their perch on the wall. They were in awe just as much as she was.

“Ah, four little mice just what I need,” Maz bent down, which wasn’t far, so she was eye level with the mice. “Do you want to help Rey get to the Ball?” Poe, Finn and Bee-Bee nodded enthusiastically. Rose looked a bit more sceptical. No other human had talked to them before.

“Excellent, jump down and we’ll get you sorted.” The mice jumped down from the wall and ran out into the courtyard. They seemed excited but Rey was apprehensive; what was this woman going to do to her little friends?

Maz muttered her magic words again. The stick began to glow and a beam of light was shot off towards the mice. Rey was gripped by a moment of sudden panic. What if this hurt her friends? But before she could voice her concerns, the bright light subsided and she looked at her friends transformed.

“Of course we needed someone to pull the carriage so here are two noble steeds.” Both Rose and Bee-Bee had been transformed into magnificent, white horses, though Rose didn’t look too pleased about it. Bee-Bee on the other hand was so happy to not be the smallest anymore and was prancing around getting used to his new legs.

“And someone obviously needs to drive the coach and you can’t be seen at the palace without your own footman.” Finn and Poe stood before her in their new human form. Both looked bewildered. They had ten fingers and no tail.

“Poe-Poe?” Finn said and immediately clapped a hand over his mouth. That wasn’t his voice. It was deep and manly and human.

“Poe-Poe drive.” Poe said. He seemed to have got over the initial shock very quickly and decided he quite liked his new body.

“Hey Rosie,” Finn said nervously as Rose decided to use her new stature to intimidate him. She needed her revenge for the tail incident and was ready to bite.

“That’s enough you two,” Maz got between them and pushed them apart, which worked despite the fact she was half their size. “Now you’re ready for the Ball.”

“But what about my dress?” asked Rey.

“Yes your dress,” Maz took a step back and pondered for a moment. “Close your eyes and feel the light wash over you.”

Rey did as she was told, not sure if anything would happen despite what she had already seen that evening. To her surprise she began to feel a tingling sensation run though her body starting at the top of her head all the way to the tips of her toes. She had to resist the urge to open her eyes until it had stopped.

Upon opening her eyes, she saw her newly transformed friends sharing at her open mouthed. Rey self conscientiously touched her hair only to find that the messy bun she had given herself was nice and smooth. Slightly panicked, she looked down at her body to see that the rags she had worn, had been replaced by a beautiful dress of gold so pale it was nearly white. It was off the shoulder and had a full skirt and it was so much better than anything she could ever make, even if she had all the time in the world.

Rey clapped a hand over hand mouth, unsure whether to laugh or cry. She needed to get a better look at herself, but the best she could do while outside was look at her reflection in a water trough. She was glad to see that the face staring back at her was wearing a mask. Once again she had forgotten it was a Masquerade. It was delicate and gold and feathered around her eyes. There was no way she would be recognised tonight.

She then became aware of an unfamiliar pair of shoes on her feet. Lifting up the hem of the dress, Rey gasped as she saw the sparkling pair of heels she was wearing.

“They’re made of glass,” marvelled Rey as she looked up at Maz.

“Yes my child. You needed something extra special to wear on your birthday,”

“Oh Maz,” Rey grabbed the older woman’s hands. “How can I ever thank you for all this?”

“Nonsense. This is my thank you to you for fixing my wagon. Now off to the Ball with you.”

Maz ushered Rey into the carriage and it was all Rey could do to not trip up over the layers of fabric of her new dress or her unusual shoes. “But I must warn you that on the stroke of twelve the spell will be broken and everything will be as it was before,”

“I understand Maz. Thank you, this is more than I ever hoped for,” Rey sat back and started to relax. The day was going to have a good conclusion after all. She was off to the palace to celebrate her birthday for once. She was going to eat cake and watch people dance and maybe even make a human friend. Rey just hoped that Poe knew the way.


	10. Kira and Kylo

Rey stepped out of the carriage, as a human Finn held the door open for her. Everything was so surreal, she had just arrived at the palace in a pumpkin driven by mice! It was like a dream, yet Maz had warned her that everything would return to normal at midnight. It wasn’t quite eight so that gave her four hours to have some fun.

She waved goodbye to Finn and Poe as they pulled away to park and wait for her. No doubt they could find something to do to amuse themselves in their new bodies.

The entrance to the palace was blessedly quite due to her late arrival, Rey held her dress up, desperate not the trip up as she was not used to wearing long dresses or heels and began to walk up the stairs. Luckily she reached the top of the stairs without incident.

There were a few stragglers like herself handing their invitations to a small slightly nervous and hurried looking man sat at a desk. Presuming she had to do the same, Rey got in line and tried to smooth out her invitation, she had been gripping it a bit too tightly in the carriage and then on the walk up the stairs.

“Good evening miss,” said the man as she handed him her invitation. She was a bit worried that he’d be able to tell it had been in pieces only a couple of hours ago and she’d be thrown out before she’d even gone in.

“We hope you enjoy the Ball this evening,” Rey breathed a sigh a of relief. “Food and refreshments will be served throughout the evening in the large banqueting hall. The gardens are open for your enjoyment until eleven forty five, when they need to be cleared in preparation for the fireworks display at midnight.”

Fireworks at midnight! That will be prefect. I’ll easily slip away when everyone else is distracted.

“If you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask anyone in livery.”

“Thank you…” Rey paused.

“Mitaka, miss,”

“Well, thank you Mitaka. I hope you enjoy your evening too.” She smiled sweetly at him. He on the other hand, looked confused like it was the first time that day that someone had thanked him.

Rey made her way down a brightly lit wide corridor lined with paintings by artists she’d never heard of. The sound of excited chatter and soft music got louder as she went further into the palace.

Rey gasped as she rounded the corner to find herself on a landing overlooking the main ballroom. Rey stopped and stared. She had never seen so many people, not even on market day. There were men in elegant suits and uniforms milling around vastly outnumbered by the women who seemed to glitter and float around the room. Rey suddenly realised that Bazine and Unamo were right, she would have stuck out like a sore thumb in her mother’s old dress.

It seemed that most people were crowded round the dance floor where several couples were already waltzing. Rey probably could have stayed on the landing watching them all evening if she hadn’t already promised herself some birthday cake.

Having got directions from a nearby footman, Rey made her way carefully down the ornate staircase into the ballroom. She worked out the best way to avoid falling flat on her face was to take it slowly and not look at her feet.

Reaching the bottom, Rey made her way through the crowd of people towards the banqueting hall. It was nice to see that as she passed by the people weren’t looking down their noses at her. Some of them smile, some even told her they liked her dress. Rey smiled back and offered her own compliments. This was her night to pretend to be someone else.  
\---  
Ben was already bored by the whole thing and there was over four hours still to go. Though he had to admit his uncle had done a good job in the short amount of time he had.

The army of servants that worked at the palace had spent the last day and a half getting every inch of the pale pink marble floor waxed and all the gold plated chandeliers polished. There were white carnations everywhere, his mother’s favourite.

He had escorted his mother into the ballroom, feeling slightly ridiculous due to the fact that he towered over her. He was also self conscious about his outfit, he really didn’t see how having his dress uniform trousers hug his thighs would make him more appealing, but Lando had insisted and then there was his black mask covering half his face, his scar. Ben wished it covered his whole face so no one knew it was him, so that no one would know if he disappeared.

But no he had to spend the last hour being introduced to practically every young woman in the room by his mother and uncle. He had tried. He had bowed, he had forced a weak smile, he had taken their hands, but nothing. Not one of them he felt the need to say anything but ‘Good evening’ or ‘Thank you for coming’ to. They were either nervous or ambitions and no doubt they would make some other man happy just not him.

With most of the guests already arrived, Ben was expected to open the Ball with a waltz. The orchestra were ready, just waiting for the signal from Luke who was hovering around somewhere between organiser and guest.

“Ben, we need to start the Ball,” said Leia as she stood beside him at the edge of the dance floor. “The room is filled with lovely young ladies. Surely you can find someone wonderful to dance with.”

Ben tried to suppress an eye roll. His mother was more optimistic than he was. He then got an idea that made him smile.

“May I?” he turned and offered his hand to Leia.

“Scoundrel,” she couldn’t help but smile as well as he lead her out onto the dance floor and the music started.

On their third turn round the floor more couples joined in.

“You know you can’t just dance with me all evening,” said Leia quietly.

“I know, just no one has caught my attention,”

“Not to worry. Let’s see,” Leia scanned the room as they slowly spinned. “What about the girl in the red dress over there?”

Ben looked in the direction his mother indicated and shuddered. “God no! She looks so haughty and I’m pretty sure I saw her trip someone up earlier.”

Leia considered her again. “Your right. I don’t like the way she’s looking down on everyone. And the man beside her must be her father. Geez, I don’t want to imagine the genes he’d pass onto my grandchildren.”

Ben rolled his eyes.

“How about the girl in the light blue dress over there?”

“Ah, I thought you might go for her. You have a similar trait. She appears to be on her fourth glass of champagne already.”

Leia gave his hand a painful squeeze for that.

“Fine, how about…” Leia kept talking but Ben didn’t hear. Something or someone had caught his eye. He unceremoniously stopped dancing and stared up at the stairs leading into the ballroom.

“Ben?” Leia was rather shocked that her son had just stopped in the middle of the dance floor. Frowning she turned to see what had got his attention.

A girl in a very pale gold dress was making her way down the stairs. To Leia, she seemed a bit timid, but she was the first person Ben had shown any interest in all evening so she would trust his instinct.

“Go on then,” she turned back to her son and playfully nudged him the direction the girl went once she reached the bottom of the stairs.

All Ben could do was nod and go. He had no idea what had just come over him but he needed to find this girl. A few women looked hopefully as he approached them but soon got out of his way when they realised he wasn’t stopping. He didn’t give it a second thought.

He saw her again as he walked passed the entrance to the banqueting hall, talking to the servers about the different foods on offer and seemingly taking one of everything off the buffet. Ben smiled at that. He preferred a woman who had an appetite rather than picking at her food.

Feeling like he was probably drawing some unwanted attention by just standing there staring at a girl, he grabbed a plate of his own, not really looking at what food he was taking. She had got to the end of the buffet table by now and had gone off to find herself a table with a glass of champagne. Taking a drink for himself, he followed her into the dining room.

It wasn’t very hard to spot her. The dining room wasn’t very full and this girl seemed to be glowing.

Taking a deep breath he walked up to the table determined to make a good impression and talk to her.

“Hi,” was all he managed to say, embarrassed as to how high his voice sounded.  
\---  
Rey looked up at the man with the squeaky voice. It was safe to say he wasn’t what she expected. He was very tall in a black uniform that was hugging his body in a very appealing way. She felt herself blush. She had never given much thought to men before and here was one stood right next to her and she hadn’t even looked at his face yet.

Glancing up at his face she couldn’t help but think, Wow! His matching black mask that covered the right side of his face afforded her a good look at the other side. Rey found that she liked his strong jaw and noble nose with a smattering of beauty marks. His eyes were a deep brown and his hair looked so soft, she just wanted to run her fingers through it. Wait, what!?

He coughed. Rey hoped it was to cover for himself rather than anything she might have accidentally said out loud.

“May I sit with you?” he asked. His voice was smooth and velvety and it took Rey a moment to register what he was asking. Shaking herself out of some sort of day dream, she looked around the dining room at all the empty tables. He wants to sit next to me!

Not really trusting herself to speak, she just smiled and nodded and he graciously took the seat next to her.

They spent the next few minutes shyly sneaking glances at each other and not touching their food or drink, which annoyed Rey the moment she realised what she was doing. Why was she acting like this? She came for the food and maybe make a friend and she had the potential for both at this table. So why wasn’t she having either?

“So,” Rey leaned her arms on the table. “Who talks first? You talk first, I talk first?”

“I honestly have no idea,” he answered seriously, then they both started laughing. “How about we just eat our dinner and see what happens?”

“Agreed,” he held his glass up to her so they could clink glasses. He took a long sip after she did, but Rey just put her glass down. She was a bit apprehensive to try it, so many bubbles.

The food was so good. She had asked the servers what everything was but hadn’t heard of most of it so decided to try everything and was now trying not to shovel it all into her mouth like she usually did. She had to keep blending in.

“What’s your name? That’s probably a good place to start,” he asked as she was part way through a savoury pastry.

“Oh,” she swallowed her mouthful. Rey hesitated. If she gave him her real name there was a slim chance that Plutt could find out she was here. “My name is… Kira,” she hoped that sounded natural. “What’s yours?” she quickly added, shoving a shrimp puff in her mouth for good measure.

“Wait?” he looked a little confused. “You don’t… no never mind.” he looked away from her and smiled. “My name is Kylo. Kylo Ren.”

“Well Mr Ren, what brings you to the Ball this evening?”

Kylo looked at her like he was trying to work out whether she was serious or not, which she didn’t quite understand. “I’m in the army and all the officers got invited to try and even out the number, but as you have probably seen yourself it hasn’t really worked.”

“So instead of having dinner with ten different women, you’re here with me,” she said jokingly.

“Just you,” he said softly and looked into her eyes. Gosh they were pretty.

Kylo was the first to look away, looking down at his plate somewhat shyly. “What about you Kira? Why did you come to the Ball?”

“Oh! It’s my birthday. I’m just here for the cake.” she said with a big smile on her face.

“Then let me go get you some cake.” he said as he got up.

“It’s OK, I can go get it… myself,” but he was out the room before she finished her sentence. Rey shrugged to herself, maybe she should just enjoy having someone wait on her for a change.

Kylo soon returned with not a plate but a serving platter full of at least two type of desert the palace was offering tonight. Rey’s eye went wide in both surprise, this was probably the nicest thing anyone had ever done for her, and wonder at how much more she could eat. Maz’s dress was corseted but Rey was going to do her best.

Kylo picked up a perfectly square piece of sponge filled with buttercream and jam. “Happy birthday Kira.” Rey picked up her piece and tapped them together like they had wine glasses, laughing the whole time.

Rey sat for a moment after she had eaten all the cake she could, blissfully full.

“So which one was your favourite?” asked Kylo.

“Probably this one.” she pointed at the last cinnamon roll. Kylo had brought several back with him.

Kylo beamed. “Mine too! Do you want the last one?”

“Thank you but I don’t think I could eat another thing.” She couldn’t remember ever being this full, and tried to work out if that was a good or bad thing.

They sat there in comfortable silence as Kylo finished her drink for her. There was no way that was going down as well.

“Will you dance with me?” he asked after a while, getting up and holding out his hand to her.

Rey looked at his hand then back at his face. “I’ve never danced before,” she said sadly.

“Then you need a teacher. I can show you how to waltz.”

“But what if I trip?”

“Then I’ll be there to catch you,” he offered his hand again more gently. “Please?”

Rey had only intended to watch the dancing, but that was before she thought she would ever get a partner. Deciding that this would probably be her only chance and finding it hard to resist Kylo’s puppy dog eyes, Rey bit the bullet and took Kylo’s hand.

An intense, warm feeling travelled up her arm from their joined hands and settled in her chest. She had never felt anything like it before. Rey looked at their hands and then up at Kylo who met her gaze with the same wide eyed expression.

“Don’t be afraid, I feel it too,” he said barely above a whisper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued next week.


	11. Kira and Kylo: Part 2

Ben lead Kira out onto the dance floor, other guest parted as she followed behind him. He still couldn’t believe it, something his mother said had come true. When he touched Kira’s hand, he knew she was the one for him.

Sure he hadn’t exactly told her the truth of who he really was but she didn’t recognise him and he wanted them to get to know each other as people without the crown getting in the way.

He decided he would tell her after the fireworks, hoping the revelation wouldn’t turn her away, but judging by her reaction to their hand holding, Ben didn’t think it would.

There were couples already dancing around and around, so Ben had to wait for a gap so he could pull Kira into the centre of the dance floor, but she gave him a little resistance.

“Why are we going into the middle? Everyone can see us.” her eyes were a bit wide in terror.

“Because everyone else will go around us and no one will bump into us if we stay here,” he gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile. He wasn’t used to smiling let alone at pretty young women.

“Do you still want to dance?” She seemed really nervous but still nodded. “Put your hand on my shoulder and I’ll hold your other one.” Kira gasped as he put his hand on her tiny waist to bring them closer together. Her blown hazel eyes met his from behind her golden mask.

“Step back on your left leg, then to the side with your right, then use your left to close,” she did as instructed but she was very tense. “Good. Now step forward on your right, then to the side with your left and close. Now repeat. Back, side, together. Front, side, together. There we go.” Kira smiled up at him, she started to relax. “Back, side, together. Front, side, together. One, two, three. One, two, three.”  
\---  
Leia sat up on her private balcony overlooking the ballroom with Luke, watching her son dance with the girl. She couldn’t really call it dancing, it was more like a child’s ballroom dance lesson but they seemed happy enough. And she was so proud of Ben for actually cooperating.

“Would you look at that,” she said to Luke not giving up an opportunity to tease him. He just hummed and kept a straight face. “Well time for a good night’s sleep.” Leia said as she got up, stretching slightly. There was nothing else she could do, it was up to Ben now.

“Quite so Leia, I believe I too…” Luke said yawning.

“You will stay here,” Leia said sternly, putting a hand on his chest to stop him leaving. “See they’re not disturbed, and when the boy proposes, notify me immediately.”

“Getting a bit ahead of ourselves aren’t we Leia?” Luke said with a raised eyebrow.

“I don’t think so,” she took another look at her son and his partner. There had been an awakening, she had felt it.

Leaving Luke to watch over Ben for the rest of the night, Leia returned to her rooms still humming along with the music.  
\---  
Rey felt like she was getting the hang of dancing, just so long as she didn’t look down at her feet, or up into Kylo’s eyes. His gaze was intense and looking into it made Rey forget her steps. She had already trod on his feet several times. She obviously apologised but he didn’t seem to mind.

The music eventually came to an end and Kylo moved away from her slightly so he could bow. Looking round at the other couples, Rey saw what she was supposed to do and dropped into a very clumsy curtsey. Oh no Unamo was right.

“I’ve got you,” Kylo said as he helped her back to her feet. It felt so good having Kylo’s arm around her, they were so strong and warm. He would be able to support and protect her.

Still unsure as to where these thoughts and feelings were coming from, Rey reluctantly released herself from his hold, blushing as she gave him a bashful smile.

For the first time all evening she look about the ballroom at the other guests and found they were all looking in their direction. “They’re all staring at us.” she said slightly panicked as she spotted Bazine looking furious on the other side of the dance floor. No!

“I’m afraid they are. Do you want to get out of here?” It was like he could read her mind.

“Definitely,” she said as he lead her quickly out of the ballroom onto the terrace. There was no way Bazine would be able to recognise her at a distance and in a mask was there?

Rey didn’t realise how hot the ballroom was until the cool night air hit her skin. It was nice but she anxiously looked over her shoulder in case Bazine chased her outside. Rey didn’t think she was beyond making a scene, even if they were at the palace.

But nothing came. Rey breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to Kylo. He appeared to be sending a message to an older man who was stood slightly off to the side. The older man bowed to her when he noticed she’d spotted him, then disappeared off into the gardens with a couple of footman.

“Who was that?” asked Rey looking up at Kylo.

“He was my, err, my commanding officer. Yes. He was just saying hello.” Kylo ran his hand through his hair like he was nervous. “Do you want to go for a walk? There’s something I’d like to show you.”

Rey nodded and took his offered arm.  
\---  
Ben guided Kira through the palace gardens. They were good to explore during the day as it was somewhat of a maze and almost every new corner revealed something new. But as it was nighttime a path was lite for them with torches and fairy lights.

“Sorry it’s slow going. It’s rather difficult to walk on gravel in these shoes.” Kira apologise, but Ben didn’t mind. He liked the way the torches made her skin glow and how the fairy lights made her eyes sparkle. It also gave Uncle Luke sometime to clear the part of the garden he wanted to take Kira.

If she was going to be a princess, then she’d have to get used to people staring at her, just like he had. But for tonight, while they were getting to know each other, that should be more private.

Ben had asked Luke to clear part of the garden for them and he could see people leaving, via a different entrance, through the gaps in the hedge. He just hoped that Kira wouldn’t notice.

They rounded the corner into the clearing just as the last people were leaving and Ben nodded at his uncle as he made his own exit. Kira was too distracted by the fountain in the middle of the clearing to notice the exchange or the lack of other guests.

“Who is she?” Kira asked in wonderment.

“Queen Padme,” the fountain of his Grandmother was beautifully lite. The light cast soft shadows across her likeness. “It was commissioned by her husband after the birth of her children,” he knew he sounded like a tour guide but he didn’t want to give away his familial connection just yet.

“He was one her knights yes?” Kira turned to face him letting her dress swish around her feet.

“Yes he was,” Ben had always looked up to his Grandfather, finding his stories of heroics more interesting than his father’s.

“And the current Queen married a pirate, how unconventional of them both.” Ben smiled at that. “I’ve always loved those stories. It’s a shame the Prince is having to get all dressed up to pick from a parade of pampered peacocks, that’s not a very exciting story at all.” Ben had to turn away to hide his expression. She really had no idea who he really was.

“I guess so. Why don’t we leave them to their Ball and get to know each other.”

“Ok.” Kira said brightly as she sat on the edge of the fountain. “Is black your favourite colour?”

Ben was taken back by the innocence of her question. “Um I guess it is,” he hadn’t really thought about it before. “I wear a lot of black because it goes with everything and I just find it easier that way.” she smiled at him as he took a seat next to her. “What about you?”

“I’ve always liked green. I was going to wear a green dress tonight, but,” she shrugged and Ben noticed a hint of sadness. “It didn’t work out.”

They exchange several more questions of a light nature. Ben wanted to make her laugh, he liked her laugh.

“So, why is your mask like that?” Kira asked.

“What?” her question took him by surprise.

“Most people’s masks are across their eyes, so they can hide themselves, at least that’s what I’m doing. But yours covers half your face, I can see what you look like.”

Ben looked at Kira, her big hazel eyes stared back at him. She had obviously meant it as another innocent question, not realising how loaded his answer would be. But he needed to be honest with her, about some things anyway.

“Because…” he wasn’t sure how he was going to do this. “Because, because of this,” he removed his mask. It was probably easier to show her.

Ben heard Kira gasp slightly as he revealed his scar. He didn’t want to look at her knowing she’d probably be repulsed and want to leave. He didn’t want to watch that though he knew he’d have to show her eventually. Ben just wanted the evening to continue to be perfect.

Kira sat silently beside him. Ben shut his eyes and sighed.

“Oh Kylo,” she finally said gently. Ben jumped as her warm fingers brushed part of the scar on his cheek. He turned to face her and was surprised to see there was more than pity in her eyes. She smiled at him softly. “We all have scars Kylo, even if you can’t see them.”

 

Ben had the sudden urge to turn his head and kiss the hand she was resting on his cheek, but then he thought that would probably scare her more than the scar. Instead he slowly reached for her free hand.

“It doesn’t put you off then?”

“Of course not. It may be for some women here tonight, but not me. To me it proves that your a survivor, you’ve been in a war that’s something that most people don’t understand. I can relate to that.” she looked sad all of a sudden and drew her hand away from his face. “You don’t have to tell me what it was tonight, but when you’re ready to talk, I’ll listen.”

Ben had to admit he was a little choked up by her words. “Thank you,” he whispered. She was exactly the type of girl he was looking for and if he hadn’t have felt it already, he now knew that Kira was the one. He just hoped his mother wouldn’t be too smug when he told her.

“If there’s anything you want to talk about, I’ll be there for you too,” she hadn’t said anything but he could sense something was there. She squeezed his hand in lieu of thanks. He looked down at their interlocked fingers and thought how natural it all felt.

Ben slipped his mask back on and got to his feet, pulling Kira up with him.

“Come. There’s somewhere else I want to show you.”  
\---  
“What is this place?” asked as they rounded a corner. The clearing had what was probably the oldest tree she had ever seen; the trunk was so wide. There was a swing attached to one of the lower branches.

“I used to play here as a child,” Kylo looked around the garden wistfully. “There used to be a sand pit in the corner there and we also had a miniature pirate ship, but they’re gone now. At least the swing’s still here and it looks in good working order.”

He offered her a seat on the swing. Rey gladly accepted. It had been far too long since she last did something that reminded her of her childhood, before her parents left, before Plutt.

Kylo was kind enough to gently push her on the swing, which was probably more appropriate given the dress and shoes she was wearing. Little Rey had also tried to go as high as possible.

“How come you got to play here as a child?” Rey asked.

“Oh, erm. My mother works at the palace.” Kylo was behind her so she couldn’t see his expression.

“That must have been nice. Is she still here?”

“Yes, she’s still here,”

“She must be glad to have you home,”

“I think she is. She’s got all these plans for my future.”

“Are you glad to be home?”

“I’m undecided. I’m glad I don’t have to fight anymore, but there’s something missing, that’s always been something missing. Even though there was always people around growing up and I had brothers-in-arms in the army, I’ve never been able to connect with anyone. They don’t understand me. I feel so alone.”

“You’re not alone,” said Rey sympathetically as she shifted in her seat so she could face him. She knew exactly how he felt.

“Not now that I’ve met you,” Kylo replied. There was a look in his eyes, one she didn’t really recognise. It was intense, romantic, loving even, and Rey thought it should have scared her but it didn’t. 

“I’ll just warn you now, if you’re going to propose, I’m going to say no.” It was true though, she was in no position to get married especially to someone she had just met tonight. But she saw Kylo’s shoulders drop in disappointment. “Though if you were to ask for a courtship,” she playfully shrugged.

Kylo perked right up. “Would you? You would let me court you?”

“Maybe,” Rey said in her best attempt at a flirtatious tone.

“That’s a yes or no question Kira.” Kylo grabbed the swing and pulled it so they were at the same height. Rey was so impressed by his strength that she nearly forgot his question.

She suddenly felt bad. Kylo would definitely help her out of her situation with Plutt, but would he want to when he found out who she really was? Did he only want her because he thought she was a rich young woman who would pay off all his debts? She had heard Bazine and Unamo talk about men like that when they were gossiping with their friends.

Rey would have to tell him the truth.

“Oh Kylo,” she cupped his uncovered cheek wand stroked it with her thumb.

“Ah. There you are, Your H…” an unfamiliar voice startled them. Quick as a flash Kylo dropped the swing surprising Rey so much she didn’t see the frantic hand gestures he was sending the newcomer.

“What is it General?” asked Kylo as he gently helped Rey off the swing.

“I was sent to find you.” the general was speaking to Kylo but looking at Rey not unkindly but curiously. “They’re clearing the gardens ready for the fireworks.”

Fireworks? Midnight!


	12. The Clock Strikes Twelve

Rey snuck out of the secret garden when Kylo stopped to speak to the general. She felt bad leaving him without telling him the truth, but she didn’t know what would happen at midnight and definitely didn’t want him to see.

The glass slippers she was wearing weren’t conducive to a speedy get away and they had wondered quite far away from the palace, but Rey was determined to make the most of her head start.

As she was running through the garden, Rey hitched her dress up to ease her escape. There didn’t seem to be anyone around, probably already inside so they could watch the fireworks, so there was no one to be offended if she flashed her ankles. But as she neared the terrace, she smoothed down her skirts and took a more sedate ace so she could blend in with the crowd that was gathered.

“Kira, wait! Where are you going?” she was half way up the steps when she heard Kylo shouting after her. Rey turned to see him and the general running towards her. Their legs were so much longer than hers and they were wearing boots, they’d catch up with her in no time.

“I’m sorry I have to go!” she shouted back. Rey gathered up her skirts again and began to push her way through the crowd. Some guests were mildly annoyed, others were too drunk to care.

“Sorry. Excuse me. Can I just? Thank you.” The crowd thinned as she got into the ballroom. She thought she heard Kylo call her name again but she was in too much of a hurry to turn around.

When she was free of the crowd, Rey breathed a sigh of relief. She was on the home stretch. She just need to get across the ballroom, up the stairs, along the corridor and outside where she hoped Poe and the others would be waiting for her.

Suddenly, someone grabbed hold of her elbow and pulled her round. Rey paled as she came face to face with Bazine.

“Leaving so soon?” Bazine said with a fake polite smile on her face, one that Rey had seen hundreds of times before. She swallowed, Bazine still had a tight grip on her arm.

“Yes,” panicked, Rey put on an accent that she hoped wouldn’t give her away. “I want to leave to avoid the traffic.”

“So you won’t mind if I have a go at the Prince?” Bazine leaned in like she did when she was talking to her friends. Rey tried to move away but Bazine’s hold prevented that.

“Of course not,” Rey was confused but tried to sound confident. “He’s all yours.”

“Wonderful,” Bazine finally released her arm. “Have a safe journey.” she said in a tone that implied the opposite with a smirk on her face. Rey had heard her use this tone on her friends, even her own sister.

Bazine walked off towards the crowd, her red dress made her look dangerous, like she was ready to sink her claws into the Prince. Poor man. Rey was confused as to why Bazine had asked her about him. She hadn’t even seen him, having spent her evening with Kylo. At least she didn’t recognise her.

Rey quickly scanned the crowd for any sign of Kylo, but couldn’t see him, he must have got stuck.

The rest of the ballroom was blissfully empty, so she resumed her flight unencumbered. Taking the stairs at speed proved a little tricky but she made it to the top just as Kylo made it inside. Rey ran off down the corridor barely hearing him call after her.

Rey could see the entrance to the palace at the end of the corridor, feel the breeze on her skin.

“Kira! Wait, please!” Kylo had managed to get to the top of the stairs as well, the general close behind him.

Rey had turned to look at them, but continued to run. In not looking where she was going, she ran straight into an older man. It was a miracle they stayed on their feet.

“Are you alright miss?” she recognised him as Kylo’s commanding officer. He must have recognised her as well.

“Yes, yes, I’m fine. I just really, really need to get out of here.” she pushed herself away from him and almost throw herself down the stairs, taking them as quickly as she could. Rey was so relieved to see Finn and Poe waiting at the bottom of the stairs for her that she barely registered the heated exchange between the three men behind her.

“Come on Rey-Rey,” Finn said gesturing her towards them. It was still weird to hear him with a human voice.

Her luck however, ran out on the third to last step when she felt her knee give way. She would have taken a nasty fall if not for Finn’s quick reflexes. He caught her way before she could hit the ground.

“Kira!” Kylo was at the top of the stairs sounding concerned.

“Rey-Rey?” questioned Finn.

“Doesn’t matter. Let’s just get home.” she breathed, shaking slightly from her near miss.

Finn bundled her into the carriage and jumped on the back as Poe started to pull away.

“No stop!” she heard Kylo shout as he got to the bottom of the stairs, just missing them.

“I’m sorry!” she shouted back out of the window feeling incredibly guilty. He looked crestfallen as he watched her leave.

Before they were completely out of sight. She saw him bend down and pick something sparkly up. It was one of her glass slippers. Rey looked down at her feet. She hadn’t realised she’d lost one.  
\---  
“So,” Hux said as he cornered Ben. “You’ve actually done something your mother asked you to do.” he kept his voice low so they weren’t over heard. Having grown up together, Hux knew how Ben felt about taking orders from his mother and had to witness the consequences. He thought it would be a problem when Ben joined the army, but it actually worked out, surprisingly.

“Not quite,” Hux quirked his eyebrow. “I’m not going to propose, but if I ask for a courtship, mother’s got to agree to that, hasn’t she? Because that’s what Kira wants.”

“You’ve already asked her? I’m impressed.”

“Kind of. It came up. Ask her yourself. Kira, why don’t you…” he turned around to talk to Kira but found she wasn’t with them any more. “Where did you go?” Ben looked around him, which was pointless as she had obviously left.

“She can’t have gone far. The shoes women wear don’t allow for anything above a leisurely pace.” Ben nodded his agreement and began to retrace their steps, as Kira did not know the gardens like he did, this would be the most likely path she would take.

He thought he would have caught her up by the time he emerged from the maze of hedges, but no. He scanned the crowd of people gathered on the terrace as best he could as he was still some distance away.

Ben then spotted her half way up the terrace stairs. So much for only being able to move at a leisurely pace.

“Kira, wait! Where are you going?” he shouted as loud as he could and started to run to meet her, vaguely aware Hux was right behind him.

Ben saw Kira stop and turn around. “I’m sorry I have to go!” she shouted back, gathering up her skirts before disappearing into the crowd.

She was leaving? Why was she leaving? Had he done something wrong? Why hadn’t she at least said goodbye?

The questions went through his head as he made his way up onto the terrace. The crowd was already gathering for the fireworks and it was making it difficult for him to push through. He mainly ignored the annoyed grunts of the people he bumped into and their comments of ‘Not again’ and ‘He should know better’. Ben thought he saw her at one point and called her name but she didn’t stop, didn’t turn around.

Then it started, what he had been dreading about the evening. No longer accompanied by his mother or hiding out in the garden, many of the girls who had come for the soul opportunity to be his bride saw their chance and pounced.

“Oh Your Highness, I’ve been waiting for you all evening. How about a dance?”

“Could you stand with me Your Highness, we can watch the fireworks together.”

“You look so handsome in your uniform Your Highness,”

Ben politely brushed them off, leaving Hux to deal with those who were a bit too handsy.

Just as he thought himself free of the crowd a woman in a dark red dress stood directly in front of him. She seemed more determined than the others, standing tall like she knew exactly what she wanted and would stop at nothing to get it.

“You don’t want a woman like her.” she said seductively. “Let me show you what you want.” she boldly put her hand on his chest and slowly moved it towards his shoulder.

“I can make up my own mind thank you very much.” Ben batted her hand away. It was then that Ben recognised her. She was one of the girls his mother had pointed out when they were dancing. Yes he had definitely made up his mind and started to move away, but this woman was having none of it and went to grab his hand but something stopped her.

“The Prince has said no, so accept it and move on.” Hux had grabbed the woman and pulled her back. Ben was glad he had someone looking out for him.

Free from the crowd at last, they resumed their pursuit of Kira. Ben just hoped she hadn’t left yet, she had been quicker than they thought so far.

Racing up the staircase, he saw her near the end of the corridor near the entrance. There was still a chance to catch up with her.

“Kira! Wait, please!” he shouted. She looked back at him as she continued to run. Why wouldn’t she stop? Why did she want to get away from him?

Ben watched as he saw Kira crash into his uncle who had seemingly come out of nowhere. If she was delayed, it gave him an opportunity.

He continued to run as he watched Kira push herself away from his uncle and started to descend the staircase.

Ben was starting to think he could make it, but all hope was dashed when his uncle stepped in front of him blocking his path. Luke looked very angry.

“What did you do?”

“Nothing,”

“Then why is running away?”

“I don’t know,” Ben tried to side step his uncle but the old man beat him to it.

“You must know what this looks like, don’t you?”

Before Ben could tell his uncle how much he resented that comment, he saw Kira trip near the bottom of the stairs.

“Kira!” he pushed past Luke. Luckily Kira’s footman had caught her but now he was bundling her into the waiting carriage that set off almost immediately.

“No stop!” but it was too late, they were on their way.

Kira leaned out of the window of the carriage. “I’m sorry!” she looked guilty and sad. How could she leave like this? Together they wouldn’t have to be alone again, but now what?

Bowing his head in disappointment, something caught Ben’s eye. He bent down to pick it up just as Hux and Luke joined him. He carefully cradled her shoe in his hands.

“Is that made of glass?” asked Hux in disbelief.  
\---  
Initially angry at his nephew’s perceived treatment of this girl; really, why was she in such a hurry to get away? It turned to something softer as he noted Ben’s genuine concern when she tripped up on the stairs.

Turning to see the rest of the scene unfold, he watched as the girl was bundled into the carriage by her footman and it pulling away as Ben desperately called after them. It brought back memories, bad memories that he had been trying to forget for over twenty five years.

A quietness followed Kira’s departure as Luke and Hux made their way down the stairs to join Ben. He had picked something sparkly off the floor. It looked like a shoe, small and delicate in his hands.

“Is that made of glass?” asked Hux in disbelief. Luke looked at the shoe. Indeed it did seem to be made of glass, what an unusual material to use.

Ben snapped out of his momentary lapse. “I’m going after her. Prepare my horse.”

Luke grabbed his arm before he could go anywhere. From experience he knew that going after the girl wouldn’t be a good idea. He also knew that letting Kira go would defeat the whole purpose of the evening, since Ben had done as his mother asked for once.

“No Ben, you need to stay here. Hux you go. Take a few guards. Find out where she lives or bring her back here, but do not scare her. Do not force her.”

“Yes sir,” Hux bowed and rushed off to fulfil his orders.

Ben turned to Luke to argue, but before he could the first firework exploded overhead in a shower of golden sparks, signifying the first stroke of midnight.  
\---  
One.

The tower clock had begun to strike, making Rey jump. It took her by surprise. She hadn’t realised it had taken her that long to get out of the palace.

Two.

A firework went off turning the sky green for a few moments. They wouldn’t have long.

Three.

Rey stuck her head out the window. “Keep going Poe. Just keep going. Get us as far away as you can.” Poe nodded and shouted encouragement to Rose and Bee-Bee.

Four.

“Um, Rey-Rey,” Rey turned to Finn and saw that he was starting to change back. His mouse ears sticking out of his human head.

Five.

“It’ll be alright Finn. Just hold on!” she shouted back at him trying to give off a calmness, when inside she was starting to panic. 

Six.

The carriage wheel hit a rock and made Rey fall back inside. Putting her arm out to steady herself, she felt something unpleasant and slimy. Looking around at the inside of the carriage, she noticed that it was also being to transform back into a pumpkin.

Seven.

Before she could think of a way to get out of the pumpkin, they went round a corner at speed, a little faster than they should have. Rey had to fling herself to one side of the carriage to stop it flipping over.

Eight.

“Careful Poe!” Rey stuck her head out the window again to see that both Rose and Bee-Bee were starting to transform. Their beautiful horse tails had turned back into mouse tails as well as their ears.

Nine.

The journey suddenly became very bumpy. As Rey looked down she could see that the wheels of the carriage were losing their golden shine and turning green, back into the vines of the pumpkin.

Ten.

The motion of the carriage flung Finn up into the air. Before he landed, his arms and body suddenly shrunk back down to their usual mouse sized proportions, leaving Finn to scramble to grab hold of a vine during his free fall.

Eleven.

Rey sat back inside the walls of the carriage were now enclosing on her, the pumpkin shrinking back down to size. She crouched, her arm braced against the ceiling. This was not going to end well.

Twelve.

The final stroke of midnight saw the last of the magic wear off. Enveloped in the same bright light that had transformed her outfit, Rey found herself thrown free of the pumpkin back in her usual beige rags and wraps. Her hair was up in a messy bun not its slick up do and the mask had gone from her face.

Finn and Poe, who were back to their normal furry selves, had also been thrown free and were now trying to get their bearings. Rose and Bee-Bee were slightly further away as they had kept running through their transformation.

The fireworks display was now in full swing as multiple rockets were sent up at the same time painting the sky golds, reds and greens.

Rey sat in the middle of the road for a moment, with a pumpkin and four mice, watching trying to hold onto the wonderful memories of the night not the disappointed of having to leave so suddenly.

So engrossed was she in the colours and patterns, and the fact that the display was so loud, she didn’t notice that something was approaching and quickly. The mice could sense it and had to alert her before it was too late.

Grabbing the mice, Rey dived into the bushes lining the side of the road just in time as a small company of palace guards came thundering around the corner dressed in black and riding dark coloured horse. They were going so fast there was a strong chance that if she hadn’t got off the road she would have been crushed just like the pumpkin.

Rey practically held her breath until she was sure they had all paced.

“Look Rey-Rey,” squeaked Poe. It was good to hear his mousy voice again. Rey looked down at her feet. One was still bare, but the other was still inside her glass slipper. She smiled. If she still her her slipper that meant that Kylo still had the other one.


	13. Aftermath

Rey walked home barefoot and in a daze. Rose and Bee-Bee were curled up asleep inside the glass slipper she was carrying. They deserved it, they had worked so hard to get her to and from the Ball. Poe and Finn, on the other hand, were perched on her shoulders excitedly telling her all about their evening, but she was barely listening instead thinking about her evening with Kylo.

All too soon she got back to the Chateau and back to reality.

Rey sighed as she let herself in and slipped on the spare pair of boots she kept by the back door. It had been a long day and she was exhausted both physically and emotionally. True, her birthday had got good in the end but it was a long road to get to that point.

Speaking of a long road, Rey couldn’t fail to notice that she was alone in the house, that her parents hadn’t returned while she was out. Maz was right. She was a proper adult now, she had to let go of the past and think about the future, about moving forward. But first she really should to go to bed.  
\---  
Leia was having a wonderful dream. It was a bright and sunny day, a gentle breeze blew making the branches sway and blossom float down. She was playing in the garden, long hair flowing behind her and miraculously unaffected by any back or knee pain, on the search for someone whose giggles gave them away.

The rustling leaves gave away their position entirely and Leia pounced. Gathering up the laughing little boy in her arms she squeezed him tightly, covering his face in kisses. He was so much like her Ben with his black hair and ears that stuck out adorably, but there was something different.

“Me too Grandma,” a little girl came bounding over, her curly black hair free of all ties. She threw her small arms around Leia and her brother as best she could.

“Yes there’s room for you too darling. More than enough room.” Leia readjusted them all so that she had her grandchildren in her arms.

It was so nice to hear the sound of laughing children and have her arms full of love again. But if the Ball went as well as it looked to be going, then she wouldn’t have to wait too long.

Leia woke at her usual time, eager to hear all about her future daughter-in-law. Luke hadn’t come to her during the night like she’d asked him to, but she could only assume that was because he didn’t want to wake her.

“Good morning Your Majesty,” said Greer as she came into the bedroom to attend to her morning duties. “The Grand Duke is here to see you ma’am.”

“Excellent,” Leia almost jumped out of bed before she remembered her back pain. God she hated getting old.

“Luke!” Leia burst into her private sitting room. She hadn’t bothered to dress, so was in her dressing gown, but she had quickly brushed her hair as it was important to Luke that she did. “How was last night? Did the boy propose? What’s she like?”

Luke got up slowly from the chair he was sitting in. He looked tired, like he hadn’t slept and had haphazardly changed clothes.

“Leia, she got away.” Luke said as calmly as he could.

“What!? What do you mean she got away?” she had been so sure this would work out. “What happened? What did Ben do?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Ben said angrily as he stormed into the room, opening the door himself so forcefully it slammed into the wall. “And I definitely didn’t deserve to be locked in my room.” He pointed a finger at Luke.

“I didn’t want you to do anything impulsive,” Luke didn’t seem phased by Ben’s anger, maybe he was too tired.

“Well if you had just let me…”

“What did happen Ben?” Leia cut her son off. She wanted to get to the bottom of this, not listen to an argument.

Ben sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, it looked like he had been doing that a lot. “We were walking in the gardens, talking. I was being as charming as I could be. We were getting along, like really well. She wanted a courtship, which you are going to agree to by the way.” Leia smiled at this. Of course she would agree to a courtship, preferably a short one. “But then when Hux came to tell us to come back inside because of the fireworks, she bolted, and then she was gone.”

Ben slumped down into one of the chairs. He looked tired too.

“What’s her name?” Leia asked Ben softly.

“Kira. Her name is Kira,”

“And what has been done to find her? Leia turned to Luke.

“I sent General Hux out after her.”

“And where is he now?”

“I have just returned Your Majesty,” everyone turned to see Hux saunter through the door held open by a skittish looking footman holding a box. He probably looked the best out of the three men despite presumably being out all night.

“Did you find her?” Ben jumped up from his chair.

“I’m afraid not.” Ben’s shoulders sagged in disappointment. “We were following a trail that was leading north out of the city but it vanished. We’ve been riding round all night trying to pick it up again. I’m sorry old friend.”

Ben patted Hux on the shoulder as a sort of thank you and went to sit back on the chair, his head in his hands staring at the floor looking down right miserable.

It broke Leia’s heart to see her son like this. If this Kira was someone Ben was willing to marry, they would find her.

“One of the footmen outside said that you wanted this, but didn’t want to bring it in for some reason.” Hux held the box out to Ben, but had to put it down on the table when he didn’t move.

“What’s in the box Ben?” Leia asked gently. “Can I open it?” she asked when he just mumbled something she couldn’t hear. Ben just shrugged.

Leia gasped when she opened the box. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but a glass slipper was certainly not on the list.

She was mesmerised as she picked up the shoe and held it up to the light. “Was this Kira’s shoe?” Ben nodded. Leia was impressed and slightly jealous. Now she definitely wanted to find this girl so she could get her own pair.

“We’ll find her Ben I promise,” Ben looked up at her still not looking too hopeful. She turned to Luke. “We can use Kira’s shoe to help find her. You just need to go around and try this shoe on every girl who went to the Ball.” Leia looked pleased with herself.

“Yes,” Ben agreed and jumped to his feet.

“No.” Luke didn’t. “Leia that will take a long time. Not to mention the countless number of girls who could possibly fit that shoe. It’s not worth it.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Leia was a bit annoyed and crossed her arms over her chest. So did Ben.

“Well we have her name. We can just look up her address in the census documents. One house, one girl, we’re done.”

“Fine. It’s less dramatic and exciting, but far more practical. As it was your idea Luke, you can oversee it.” Luke leaned his head back to look at the ceiling. “By the way Luke, the sooner you get this done and Kira is found, the sooner you can go back to the farm in Tatooine.”

“Thank you Leia,” Luke said begrudgingly and kissed her forehand before he left the room to start another stressful day.


	14. The Search

Mitaka never wanted to see another invitation ever again, having spent the previous evening collecting them as the guests entered, over nine hundred in the end, and the day before that going through the census documents with at least twenty other servants hastily writing them out. But with talk of a Royal Wedding, he didn't think he’d get his wish.

The Grand Duke had summoned him to the records room. This made him feel a bit nervous, Mitaka always preferred to blend into the background; that was a good thing about being a footman, being ignored most of the time. The prominent position in the planning process had been exhausting and was only supposed to be temporary, but maybe the Duke thought he had done a good job and was going to give him a promotion. It would mean having to put himself out there more, but it would also mean having more money to send to his mother to care for his younger siblings.

“Ah Mitaka,” the Duke was waiting for him and so was the Prince who looking angry and frustrated, leaning against the arm of a chair with his arms crossed. It filled Mitaka with some fear as he had seen that look on the Queen before she would throw something.

“I have a small job for you. Shouldn't take too long.”

“Yes sir,” Mitaka tried to focus on the Duke and ignore the dark brooding presents in the room.

“We need you to look up the address of someone at the Ball last night.”

“Yes sir,” Mitaka was careful to keep his tone neutral. Why did he have to do this? If it was just one address, why couldn’t they have just done it themselves?

“What was the name sir?” he looked at the Duke but the Prince answered.

“Her name is Kira.” he sounded a lot calmer than he looked, which surprised Mitaka.

“And her surname, sir?” he couldn't get very far without that bit of information. Both he and the Duke looked at the Prince expectantly. The Prince’s eyes went wide, darted between the two of them before sheepishly staring at the floor.

“I don’t know,” he said quietly.

“You don’t know? What do you mean you don’t know?” the Duke shouted at his nephew.

“I didn’t think it was important at the time. How was I supposed to know she’d leave and I’d have to track her down like this?”

“Well what do you suggest we do now?”

“Mother’s suggestion.”

“No,”

Mitaka just awkwardly stood there while uncle and nephew shouted at each other. He didn’t want to be there. He’d rather be working out how much cutlery had been stolen.

Then something caught the Prince’s eye. It was the box of used invitations that had been tucked away in the corner if the room until someone could figure out what to do with them.

“She was definitely at the Ball, so her invitation has to be in here. We just have to go through them, then we’ve got her full name and address,” the Prince almost seemed triumphant with his suggestion.

“But there’s over nine hundred invitations!” cried Mitaka, because when the Prince said we he really meant him, and he certainly didn’t want to do that.

“You better go get some back up,” said the Duke.

The dozen other footman Mitaka gathered up were initially pleased to get away from their various other jobs, until they found out what they would be doing instead. Mitaka felt their eyes burning a hole in the back of his head while they each went through a small pile of invitations trying to find the mysterious Kira.

As Mitaka was sorting through his pile he found a scrap that looked like part of an invitation. He stared at it in confusion. Why had an invitation been ripped up? He hadn’t done it and had stayed with them all evening, or had he been too tired to remember? Looking around, he noticed that some of the others had found similar pieces. He made a mental note to gather them up and sort it out later.

“I’ve found her,” a young footman called Thanisson exclaimed. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They had been at this a while and were ready to move on.

“Wait. How are you spelling that?” asked an older footman called Hask. They all stopped in their tracks, most mid stretch, especially the Prince who was bounding over and looked like he was going to hug Thanisson.

“K-E-I-R-A,” replied Thanisson.

“I’ve found one spelt K-I-R-A,” said Hask. Everyone who was sorting invitations turned to look at the Prince, who turned to look at his uncle.

“Is it wrong of me to assume you don’t know how to spell her name?” the Prince looked at the floor again. The Duke sighed. “Everyone keep going until you’ve checked all of your invitations, then start ordering them so we can file them away later.”

They only found one more, Qi’ra, which they decided was probably pronounced the same as the others.

“So,” the Duke held out the three invitations to his nephew. “How are we going to find the right one?”

The Prince looked thoughtful for a minute, then clicked his fingers as he remembered something.

“It was her birthday yesterday. We just look up these three girls and their dates of birth, then we’ll find her.”

The footman contained their angry mutters, again the Prince didn’t know the meaning of ‘we’.

Mitaka sighed. This had turned into a very long job.  
\---  
Rey got up later than usual the morning after the Ball. She hadn’t heard the others come in so they obviously didn’t need anything and were still fast asleep. Rey was glad to have a few hours to herself.

As she was fixing the last of her hair in place, Rey looked over at the scratches on the wall. There were over five thousand tally marks in total. Over five thousand days since her parents left her, and on this day, the day after her twenty first birthday, the morning after the most amazing evening of her life, was the first time in fifteen years that she didn’t add to their number. It was time to let go of the past and think about how to move forward.

Being the only one awake meant that Rey could do the bear minimum in terms of chores. She fed Phasma and locked the cat in the kitchen while she went outside to feed the chickens with the mice.

She should probably sneak into Bazine and Unamo’s room to collect their washing and make a start on that, but every time she did that in the past, they complained about her waking them up. Today she would just let them sleep.

While outside she hummed the music she could remember from the Ball while practicing the steps that Kylo had taught her. Rey knew she hadn’t been that good and wished she was elegant and graceful like the other ladies, she sensed that Kylo was a good dancer and she had been holding him back.

Rey thought she would have to find him and explain what happened but she had no idea how she would do that.

It wasn’t until after midday that she heard anything from the others. Bazine and Unamo demanded their usual breakfast trays and an explanation as to why their washing was still in their room, before dragging Rey out so they could partake in their favourite hangover cure: shopping.

They dragged Rey to the shopping district known as Niima Outpost. The specialist boutiques and artisan cafes surrounded an open market square with a fountain in the middle which gave the area a nice atmosphere, but Rey had never been allowed to enjoy it. Every time she was brought along, she was made to stand still and not touch anything, the closest she got to having new things was carrying Bazine and Unamo’s new things home.

However today was different. Even though Bazine had ordered her to stand outside the hat makers while they went inside, she didn’t mind so much, still feeling warm and fuzzy after her evening with Kylo. She had to find a way to see him again.

It was a lovely bright day with only a few fluffy white clouds floating softly through the light blue sky. The outpost wasn’t too crowded so there weren’t many people around the fountain, blocking her view. She couldn’t help but think of what it would be like to sit with Kylo by this fountain. True it wasn’t as fancy or well maintained as the one in the palace grounds, but that wasn’t what appealed to Rey the most, it was just having someone near.

Before she got too lost in her daydream, she spotted two men dressed in the uniform of the royal guard. Her heart started beating faster before she realised neither of them was Kylo, deflating her slightly.

Then she had a brilliant idea. Carefully peaking into the window of the shop to check that Bazine and Unamo were suitably occupied, she took a deep breath and walked over to the two guards.

“Excuse me,” she said quietly due to her sudden shyness. The guard didn’t react, so she poked his padded upper arm, causing him to turn to face her.

The angry expression disappeared from his face as soon as he saw that she wasn’t a threat. “Can I help you miss?” he was tall, probably as tall as Kylo she reckoned, but his blonde hair didn’t suit his dark eyes.

“Yes. I’m … you see, I,” she stammered, internally scolding herself. She took a breath and started again, finding it easier to speak staring at the royal insignia on his chest. “Do you know a soldier called Kylo Ren?”

“Kylo … Ren?” he said slowly. A light frown appeared on the guard’s face. “How? … You know Kylo Ren?” He said stepping back and looking at Rey, making her feel slightly uncomfortable.

“Yes. Do you?” she frowned herself. She would have preferred to be the one asking questions not answering them.

“Yes, but how do you?” the guard seemed to be having trouble understanding her questions, frustrating her. Honestly I can get straighter answers out of the mice, she thought.

“We met last night and I would very much like to see him again,” Rey tried not to blush and went back to focusing on his chest while she said her plan out loud. “So I don’t know how it would work on your end, but can you talk to him and, if you’re on a rota or something, could he swap and come to Niima? I can’t go anywhere else.”

Rey looked up and was met with the guards blank stare. Great, she thought, this guy thinks I’m mad and I’m never going to see Kylo again.

Feeling rejected, she began to turn away. “Wait,” the guard cried reaching for her arm to stop her from going to far. “What’s your name?”

Rey started to panic. Should she give this man her real name or the fake one she had told Kylo? Would he even pass on her message? She opened her mouth to speak even though she had no idea about her response. But before she could answer, she heard the worst possible sound behind her.

“Cindereyla!” Rey cringed. She was certain they would have been longer.

“What do you think you are doing?” Bazine grabbed her arm and turned her around so she could shout in her face.

“Sorry Bazine,” Rey said meekly, she just wanted to leave so that people would stop staring.

“Get back to the shop so that you can carry our new hats home,”

“Yes Bazine,” Rey said as she scurried off.

“Wait,” Rey heard to guard say.

“Oh you poor thing,” Bazine said mockingly. “You don’t want to get involved with her, she’s a very troubled girl.” Rey looked back to see mild shock on the guards face. I’m never going to see Kylo now, she thought as she took the hat boxes from the shop assistant stood next to a smirking Unamo.  
\---  
“This Keira’s birthday was six weeks ago,” called out one of the footmen.

“This Kira’s birthday isn’t for another four months,” said another looking up from the census document over to where Ben was pacing.

Ben was trying and failing to stay positive. It was alright, there was still one possible girl left. They’d confirm her birthday, find her address and they’d be having dinner together that evening.

“Found her,” declared a third footman. Ben froze. This was it, they had found the girl from the Ball. Luke read the ledger over the footman’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry Ben,” Luke said and Ben felt his heart sink into his boots. “Qi’ra is my age. We’ve struck out.” he looked at his nephew sympathetically as Ben slowly sank down into one of the library sofas.

“I don’t understand,” said Ben. He was too tired to be angry. He thought this would work, but it was just a waste of time.

Luke sighed. “She lied to you Ben, may have even been an imposer.”

“No,” Ben shook his head. “No she didn’t seem the type.”

“Well, she obviously didn’t want to be found, what with giving you a fake name and running away like she did.”

“I can find her. She’s in there somewhere,” Ben gestured to the pile of invitations that were still being sorted. “We can do what mother said and visit all of them.”

“And like I said then, it’s not practical to try a glass slipper on every girl who attended the Ball.”

“We wouldn’t have to. Just see if they have the other one.” Ben was shouting at this point. “I am trying to fight for this. You helped my parents fight for their relationship, why won’t you help me?”

Luke looked around at the footmen in the room who were pretending to busy themselves to mask the fact they were listening in. He closed his eyes. It was time Ben knew the truth.

“Not here,” he said as he walked out of the library and out into the garden to Padme’s fountain. Ben followed as well as Chewie who had woken up from his nap in front of the fire. He was surprised to see that the sun was not long from setting, that they had spent the whole day cooped up inside.

Ben took a seat on the edge of the fountain just like Kira, or whatever her real name was, had done the night of the Ball. Luke remained standing but faced away from him.

“I was once engaged to be married. It was a long time ago now and you were a very small child at the time so you wouldn’t remember and no one speaks of it now.

Her name was Mara Jade and we meet in Coruscant. She had this beautiful red hair and sparkling green eyes. I fell for her almost immediately and she fell in love with me too, but she was a commoner and I didn’t tell her who I really was.

When she accepted my proposal, I wanted to bring her home to meet my family, but she was overwhelmed when we got back to the palace. Your mother was very welcoming and my mother too come to think of it, but it was too much for her.

She said it wasn’t because I had lied about who I was, it was that she didn’t think she was worthy of me or that she wouldn’t make a good princess, but I think it was. I begged her not to go but she left taking my heart with her. That’s why I’ve never married; why you grow up alone with no cousins to play with; why I was in a dark place for such a long time.”

Luke looked at Ben, glad he had been allowed to talk, to tell him the truth.

“Is that why you won’t fight for me?” Ben said at last. “That you think Kira ran away because she didn’t think she would be suited to royal life and I should let her go and not be hung up on her like you are on Mara?”

Luke winced. It hurt to hear her name said out loud. “Essentially yes,” He took a seat next to his nephew and started to scratch Chewie behind the ears.

“Well I’m not giving up. I want to hear her reasoning. Mara gave you hers,”

“Very well, but what if it goes badly and she really doesn’t want to be with you?”

“Then at least I will know the truth.”

Chewie’s ears pricked up as he heard someone approaching before either Ben or Luke did. A royal guard approached them, breathless as he appeared to have run through the gardens, removed his hat and bowed.

“What is it Matt?” Ben asked. He knew this man, they returned from the war together.

“I was on patrol in Niima earlier and a girl came up to me and asked me to pass a message to Kylo Ren.” Ben blinked at Matt, he was speechless. Luke frowned.

“What has that got to do with us?” he asked.

“Kylo Ren was the name His Highness used when we were on the front line as to not give him away. There are only a certain number of people who know about it.” answered Matt as Ben was still trying to get over the shock.

“It’s the name I told her,” Ben said still somewhat distant. “So she’s in Niima. Did you get a name, an address? What did she say?” Ben snapped out of it and grabbed Matt be the shoulders.

“She said she wanted to meet Kylo in Niima, but she was dragged off by a spikey looking woman before I could get any information from her.”

“Dragged off?” Ben let go of Matt. “You mean like by a matron?”

“That’s the strange thing. She was wearing what I can only describe as rags and the woman, Bazine I think her name was, was scolding her like a servant.”

“That can’t be right,” said Luke “Servant weren’t invited for obvious reasons. We went through the census data to make sure.”

“Well we have another lead. I’m going to find this Bazine.” and with that, Ben left with Chewie to go back to the records room leaving Luke and Matt to trail behind him.

Ben walked a lot faster than he could, so by the time Luke got back inside, Ben had already given the footmen orders to find Bazine in the pile of invitations and in the records.

There wasn’t much else they could do as they waited, so Luke watched the footmen as they worked while Ben paced. He then noticed something unusual on the desk next to Mitaka. “Why has that invitation been ripped?”

Mitaka paled and immediately began to defend himself. “I don’t know how it happend. It wasn’t like that last night I swear.”

“Alright, alright,” Luke said just to stop him having a nervous breakdown. “Whose invitation was it anyway?”

“Someone called,” Mitaka squinted as he read off the jigsaw like pieces. “Reyla.”

“Cindereyla!” Matt suddenly called out. Everyone turned to look at him. “That’s what Bazine called the girl. Cindereyla.”

“You think they’re connected?” asked Ben. Matt just shrugged.

“Have you found Bazine yet?” asked Luke in his commanding voice.

“Just found her sir,” called out one of the footmen.

“Good, look them both up. Tell me where they live.”

“The invitations were sent to the same address sir, a chateau off Jakku Way.”

“Then that’s where I’m going,” Ben got up to leave.

“No Ben stop. There’s something strange going on here,” he turned to the assembled footmen. “Find me everything you can on that household and have it delivered to my chambers,” he turned to Matt. “Go find General Hux and tell him I need an armed escort first thing in the morning.”

“But…” Ben started to argue.

“I know you want to go now but it’s late and everyone’s tired. We will go first thing I promise.”

“Fine.” Ben said sulkily crossing his arms across his chest like an overgrown teenager.


	15. You're Nothing

Today was the day, Rey thought. The day she would leave the Chateau where she had lived her whole life and not look back. Was she scared? Yes. Did she have a plan? Half of one at least. Was she going to lose her nerve? Hell no, she was doing this.

To signify her resolve, she had made herself a new outfit in blue and grey and a new hairstyle, half up, half down, not that anyone else noticed. Bazine and Unamo were busy gossiping about the Prince. Rey doubted Bazine had managed to gain his favour by the way she was harshly talking about him and the girl he was apparently going to marry. Rey smiled at that. She was glad he had the sense to stay away from Bazine.

Plutt read his newspaper as she cleared away the breakfast things. She was a nervous ball of energy. She was doing this, she would walk away from it all when she would normally be doing their laundry. She was usually left alone for hours, they wouldn’t realise she was gone until she was far away.

In an effort to stop her hands shaking, Rey quietly hummed some music from the Ball. It worked as she felt like she was floating as she put things away in the kitchen and hurried up the stairs to collect her things.

She hadn’t got a lot to pack. It was literally just her glass slipper and some food she had managed to sneak back to her room, which she hoped the mice hadn’t already eaten, because of course, they were coming with her.

They were up there waiting for her, excited to be leaving as well. Rey didn’t have the heart to tell them there were probably be bigger dangers out there than Phasma.

“Ready to go?” Rey asked them and they scurried inside her bag. She hoped they would be comfortable in there.

She decided to go back to Niima and see if the guard from yesterday had passed on her message. If not her, plan was to go to the barracks as that’s where she thought Kylo Ren would most likely be. She knew it was risky going to a man with nothing, but what choice did she have? Besides she knew she could trust him despite only spending an evening with him, there was a powerful and mysterious connection between them.

“Just where do you think you’re going?” the sound of Plutt’s voice made Rey freeze and all excited thoughts were replaced with panic.

“I was just going to go do the laundry,” Rey stammered, trying to hide her bag behind her hoping the mice were alright.

“Don’t lie to me girl. How did you do it?” Plutt took another step into the room.

“Do what?” Rey instinctively took a step back.

“Don’t think I haven’t seen you dancing in the yard or heard you humming. You were at the Ball, weren’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Rey tried to hide her shock. Had she really been that obvious?

“Quite impressive really as I didn’t see anyone there dressed as a scarecrow.” That was a low blow even for Plutt.

“Get out of my way, I’m leaving.” Rey said gritting her teeth.

“Let me guess you’ve leaving to meet some man you’ve met. Whatever he said to you was a lie. Men always lie to get under a young girls skirts.”

“He would never do that!” There was no point in trying to hide it now if Plutt had his suspicions.

“Of course he would. No one would truly want you, your parents didn’t even want you.” he spat.

“That’s not true,” she said as she blinked back the tears.

“They mortgaged this house so they could drink themselves into an early grave. They were found dead in a ditch and buried in a pauper’s grave a couple of towns over. You were just one of the many pieces of garbage they left behind in this house.”

Rey couldn’t stop the tears from falling. This was the truth about her parents. Plutt may have been keeping it from her but it was the truth.

Before either of them could say another word, they heard a loud knocking coming from the front door.

“I haven’t finished with you yet girl,” Plutt said as he pushed her back onto the bed and rushed out the room. Rey was too busy trying not to land on her bag that by the time she got back up Plutt had locked the door and walked away.

Rey banged on the door and called out but knew it was useless; no one could hear her up here and no one cared she was up there anyway. But Rey was determined. She had made up her mind that she was leaving and wasn’t going to let a locked door stop her.

Rifling through her sewing kit and grabbing a bunch of hair pins, she gathered a selection of objects she thought she could use to pick the lock, but as each and every one of them snapped, she had to admit that she had no idea what she was doing.

The mice huddled around her knees as she sat on the floor, looking downcast. They were able to get out of the room, but they wouldn’t leave without their friend, which gave Rey an idea.

“Poe, Finn I have a very important mission for you,” the two mice stood to attention on their back paws. “You have to find the key. It’s probably in Plutt’s pocket, so you’ll have to be extra careful.”

“We get key Rey-Rey,” Poe assured her with a tiny salute. “Come Finn-Finn.” Rey watched as Rose and Bee-Bee waved goodbye as Finn and Poe squeezed themselves under the door, hoping that this would work.  
\---  
Finn and Poe made their way through the wall cavity to the bottom of the servants’ stairs determined to help Rey, she deserved to have nice things.

There was an assortment of objects at the bottom of the stairs. Things no longer wanted by the Plutts; an old chest of drawers, some chairs; and things Rey hadn’t brought upstairs yet; a basket and pieces of wood. They were mainly things that needed to be stored away before being thrown away.

Exiting the wall cavity, Finn and Poe froze. Their way was blocked by Phasma, who had been let out of the kitchen after her breakfast.

Finn narrowed his eyes and looked around the room formulating a plan. This would be the last time they would have to face Phasma whether they got the key for Rey or not, so they were going to make this count.

“Distract Phasy.” Finn squeaked at Poe. As Phasma pounced they split up, Finn up and on to the drawers, Poe leading Phasma around the legs of the chairs trying to create some space between them.

“Here Poe-Poe,” Finn shouted from on top of the drawers next to the basket he had managed to push closer to the edge.

Poe understood Finn’s plan immediately and raced to the bottom of the drawers under the basket, turned around and braced himself. Phasma was bearing down on him but he had to wait until the last possible second to get out of the way.

It all happened in an instant. Phasma was too focused on Poe to notice the drawers behind him, running straight into them when he successfully jumped out of the way. The force of the impact helped Finn push the basket over the edge, landing it on top of the cat.

Phasma let out an angry and confused yowl and tried to move the basket off of her. Before she could do so, Finn and Poe pushed on of the heavier pieces of wood leaning against the wall on top of the basket, trapping her inside.

Finn and Poe cheered and bumped paws. Someone would let her out eventually, but for now she was out of the way while they looked for the key.  
\---  
Hux hammered on the front door of the Chateau again. Still no answer, but they could hear hurried footsteps from inside.

“Open in the name of the Queen!” he shouted after he knocked once again.

The door was finally opened by a short, greasy looking bald man who paled when he saw who was at his door. Luke had to hide his smirk as he admitted to himself that it would be quite intimidating seeing a full mounted armed escort on your doorstep.

“Good morning Mr Plutt,” Luke said as he pushed past him into the Chateau, followed by General Hux, Matt and Mitaka.

He made his own way through the house seeing if there was anyone else there. He came across two young ladies sat in a drawing room. Luke could tell instantly that neither of them was the girl from the Ball but they were there for other reasons as well.

“What’s this all about?” Plutt asked as he pushed his own way into the room, breathless from running after them.

“As you may have heard, we are making enquiries about certain … people, who were at the Ball.”

“You mean the girl who ran away?” one of the girls asked. Luke reluctantly nodded, not wanting to give too much away. “I don’t know what she has to do with us. We don’t know anyone called Kira.”

“Then it’s good thing I’m not here to ask about Kira. I’m looking for Reyla.” The two sisters eyes darted to each other then their father. “I take it you know her.”

“No, I don’t know who you’re talking about,” she was obviously lying.

“Really? Well I have it on good authority,” he turned and nodded at Matt. “That you Bazine,” he correctly picked the right sister. “Were in Niima with her yesterday.”

“Oh you mean Cindereyla. She’s just our servant girl. You need not concern yourself with her.”

“I must insist that I speak with her. Where is she?”

“No idea.” Plutt said. “Ran away in the night. But thank you for coming, sorry we couldn’t be any help.” He tried to shoo them out of his house, but Luke was having none of it. He could see straight through him.

“You’re lying. Search the house.” Luke ordered Matt.

“You have no right to do that.”

“I am under the Queen’s orders, I have every right.” Luke’s stare down with Plutt was interrupted by some squeaking behind him.

“Rey-Rey upstairs! Rey-Rey upstairs!” Luke turned to see two mice jumping excitedly on a side table.

The girls screamed and screeched something about a cat, but Luke wasn’t listening to them instead looking at the mice in their cute little jackets. Rey-Rey was upstairs.

“Matt, follow the mice,”

“Wait what?!”  
\---  
They found Plutt in the drawing room along with a lot of other people. Rey was right, they were going to have to be extra careful.

Finn and Poe were trying to come up with a plan when they heard something that caught their attention. “I’m looking of Reyla.” said the old man with a beard. They looked at each other delighted. If this man was looking for Rey, they wouldn’t have to go in Plutt’s pocket.

The bearded man was having an argument with Plutt, but the mice weren’t listening they needed to get this man’s attention. They scampered up the leg of a side table. They had no idea if this man would be able to understand them but they could at least make some noise.

“Rey-Rey upstairs! Rey-Rey upstairs!” they squeaked loudly as they jumped up and down.

The bearded man turned and looked at them as the girls screamed in the background. He took them in and smiled and they could tell he understood them.

“Matt, follow the mice,” he said.

“Wait what?” the tall blonde man was visibly confused but followed the orders he was given.

Finn and Poe were seriously out of breath by the time they got back to Rey’s door. If the bearded man was coming with them then they would have asked him to pick them up, but the blonde man couldn’t understand them so he had just followed them slowly. They had somehow managed to convince him not to release Phasma though.

Getting back to the door, they realised that it was still locked and they hadn’t got the key. Before they could figure out what to do, the blonde man took over.

“Hello, is anyone there?” he said through the door.

“Yes, I’m locked in here.” they heard the relief in Rey’s voice.

“Alright miss. Stand back from the door.” They heard her move before the blonde man delivered a powerful kick to the door, busting it open.

They were all a bit shocked by the force of the action, but Rey smiled brightly when she saw her rescuer.

“You’re the guard from Niima. How did you find me?”

“There are some people downstairs who will be able to answer that better than I can.” He moved out of the doorway to let her pass.

Rose and Bee-Bee ran out in front of her to hug Finn and Poe who were very excited to tell them what they had done to Phasma. Finn hoped he would get more than a hug from Rose.

Rey bent down and picked them all up. “Well done you two. Now let’s get out of here.” She slipped them inside her bag where they curled up inside the glass slipper and started sharing a cracker, as she made her way downstairs.  
\---  
The stand off between Luke’s party and Plutt was broken by the return of Matt with the girl. She looked vaguely familiar and could definitely be the girl they were looking for.

“You must be Reyla,” she nodded as she tried to put on an air of confidence in front of Plutt. “I’m…”

“Kylo’s commanding officer. Sorry that I ran into you.”

“Yes, well, um. We’ll sort that out later, but I’m here to take you away from here.” She was certainly the girl they had been looking for.

He offered her his hand. She smiled and went to take it, but Plutt grabbed her upper arm and pulled her back.

“What do you want with her? She comes from nothing. She is nothing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nearly at the end...
> 
> Thanks for reading hopefully the back and forth between perspective changes made sense.


	16. But Not To Me

Luke had told Ben to wait outside, to blend in with the rest of the guard, but he didn’t like that. He had grown impatient and slowly made his way inside, no one would stop him. He needed to know if Kira, or maybe it was Reyla, was here.

Silently padding behind him was old and faithful Chewie. Luke hadn’t been to keen on bringing him along, but the old dog had refused to stay behind and had ridden in the carriage with Luke since he didn’t ride anymore.

Ben followed the sound of people talking and stopped short when he saw her. She looked less clean and polished than she did at the Ball, but then again so did he having not slept very well for the past two nights, and wearing a borrowed uniform. But it was her, her face was recognisable even without a mask and there was no mistaking her sparkling hazel eyes. He may have no idea what else was going on but this was the girl from the Ball.

“What do you want with her?” Ben was broken out of his pleasant mood when a horrid short man grabbed his girl by the arm. “She comes from nothing. She is nothing.”

Ben saw red and burst into the room. “But not to me.” 

As if sensing his masters’ intent, Chewie surged forward and got between ‘Kira’ and the man, pushing him backwards. Chewie bared what teeth he had left and growled. “Lay a hand on her again and I’ll have him rip your arm off.”

“Kylo!” the girl said, her shocked expression turned into a bright smile. He loved that smile.

“No no. I refuse to believe this. There is no way that you were at the Ball. You had no dress and no invitation. You don’t even know how to greet a Prince properly. I want proof.” said the woman who had accosted him at the Ball, almost hysterically. Ben was glad his uncle was there to be a calming influence.

“Yes, we do need some proof. A shoe perhaps?”

She smiled and went into her bag and produced the second glass slipper but not before Ben heard her whisper sorry as she tipped some mice out of it, causing him to raise an eyebrow.

“Ah excellent. We now have a perfect pair.” he placed the shoe in the shoe box that Mitaka was carrying. “Your proof ladies,” he said as he showed them the contents of the box.

“It’s just a shoe. Doesn’t prove anything.” she scowled and crossed her arms.

“But Baz, it’s made of glass. The Prince is looking for the girl with the glass slippers,” her sister seemed to be more excited about what was going on.

“Shut up Una.”

“Why would the Prince be looking for me? I didn’t even meet the Prince,” she turned to face him. “I only meet...Oh.” her eyes widened in disbelief and shock.

“Hello Reyla,” Ben used her real name for the first time, in what he hoped was a reassuring tone.

“H-hello Your Highness,” she stammered dropping into her clumsy curtsy just like the other night. Ben wanted to help her up like he did then, hold her in his arms again, but she wasn’t meeting his eye and he hoped he wasn’t the only one who was feeling rather sheepish.

“My offer still stands and you two obviously need to talk, but there is something else I need to get to the bottom of here.” Luke broke the awkward silence that had descended on the room. “Now Reyla,”

“Rey,”

“I’m sorry?”

“I prefer to be called Rey.”

“Yes, alright, Rey. Do you know what happens every ten years?” Rey shuck her head. “Well we conduct a census which is basically collecting information from all over the kingdom about those people who live here. It is the head of the household’s responsibility to send in the information about everyone in the household. So it is Mr Plutt’s job to send in the names, dates, occupations of anyone living in this house.”

They all turned to Plutt who had started to move backwards and was trying to blend in with the wall.

“The last census was two years ago and we used that information to send out the invitations to the Ball. Invitations were sent to all unmarried women between the ages of twenty and thirty with ‘genteel occupations’ within the city limits.”

“So you’re saying I shouldn’t have been invited,” Rey sounded so down heartened and Ben knew she was looking sad even though he couldn’t see her face. He knew he should say something but his uncle carried on.

“As I have heard you described as a ‘servant girl’, no you weren’t.” Ben saw Rey’s head drop further. He didn’t care what she was. She was the first girl to make him feel anything. “But in the census data you are down as a young lady of the house, same as Bazine and Unamo, so you got an invitation.”

“But I don’t understand,”

“How long have you been working here Rey?”

“Nearly fifteen years,” Ben was appalled and he could see Luke was too.

“General, arrest that man on charges of fraud and lying on official documents.” 

Hux jumped into action but Plutt was putting up a fight, so Matt help subdue the criminal. Ben wanted to punch the man but Luke silently told him to stay where he was.

“Rey, how much did this man pay you?” Ben could hear the quiet anger in his uncle’s voice.

“He didn’t,” Rey said quietly. Ben really had to use all his self control not to make this scene any worse. He didn’t want Rey to see him like that.

“General add charges of slavery to that and get him out of my sight.” With that Hux and Matt hauled Plutt away. He hurled expletives and insults at them all. His daughters were whaling.

“What are we supposed to do now?” sobbed Unamo.

“Get a lawyer?” Luke shrugged he was done with these people. “And be glad I haven’t brought you up on the same charges.”

 

He was a lot warmer when he turned back to Rey. “Take as long as you need, but I have no intention of leaving you here.” he nodded at Ben and left to wait outside.

Ben rarely knew what to say or do in emotional situations, but he needed to comfort Rey. He hadn’t realised she had been through so much. At the Ball he just assumed she was a normal young woman, sheltered perhaps, but not this.

He put his hand on her shoulder. She instantly put her own hand over his and sighed. Chewie came over and sniffed around her other hand. She finally turned around and looked him in the eye, but he couldn’t decipher the look on her face.

“Do you want to go for a walk?”  
\---  
Rey was in a daze. She was free at last and was with Kylo again, or Ben, but finding out he was the Prince and how bad her situation really was, was a lot.

Her plan had been to find Kylo and may be they could have a nice quiet life together somewhere, but now, knowing he was a Prince, their life wouldn’t be quiet even if they were allowed to be together.

The Grand Duke had given them time and space to talk so Rey lead Ben out of the house to somewhere she hadn’t been in years. They walked down the country lane and turned into a meadow overgrown with grass and wildflowers. The old tree and fallen logs were just how she remembered them and she could hear the flow of the shallow stream nearby.

She turned to Ben and sat down on one of the logs. “Since you showed me where you used to play, I thought I should probably show you where I used to come before...everything.”

“Oh Rey, I’m so sorry,” Ben sat down on the log beside her and took her hand. His was so big and warm compared to hers. “I meant what I said the other day. I’ll listen if you need to talk.”

Rey smiled to herself. Ben really was a good person and she was liking his dog too. She especially loved it when they threatened Plutt, but now he was as docile as anything laid out on the grass in front of them.

“I don’t want to talk about that now, but... you’re the Prince.” she turned to look him in the eye and found them full of emotion.

“Yes.”

“So you lied to me?” she said trying not to sound too harsh.

“No. Everything I said was true, from a certain point of view. My mother does work at the Palace, I have just returned from war and my uncle if technically my commanding officer, so is the general. But I can say the same thing about you Rey.”

Ben didn’t seem upset instead it sounded like he was teasing her. She couldn’t help but blush.

“I just wanted to be someone else for the night and celebrate my birthday for once.”

“So that bit was true then?”

“Of course.” she smiled at him. “What about you? Why were you Kylo?”

“I guess I wanted to be someone else as well. My mother throw the Ball because she wants me to get married and everyone there was looking at me like I was a prize to be won, but then I met you and you had no idea who I was and I wanted to get to know you without the crown because I knew that you would see me differently.” His eyes dropped to where they were still holding hands. “How did you get there anyway?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,”

“Try me.”

Before she could say anything else, her little mouse friends decided it would now be a good time to burst out of her bag.

“Rey-Rey outside!” squeaked Poe as he crawled across her lap.

“So Kylo Princey?” said Rose as she went and sat on Rey’s hand. To her surprise he didn’t flinch away and even more to her surprise he answered.

“Yes I am,” Ben said with a smile.

“You can understand them?” Rey and the mice looked at Ben with wide eyes.

“Yes. I used to talk with Chewie all the time growing up. But he doesn’t reply much now he’s old.”

“I’ve never met someone who could understand animals before. When I was growing up, the mice of this house were my only real friends.”

“I know how you feel. Even though I had other children to play with, Chewie was the only one I felt comfortable around. They thought it was weird that I could understand a dog. I just thought they were jealous they couldn’t.”

“Beardy can too,” Poe piped up.

“Yes my uncle can too,” Ben said laughing.

“So Rey-Rey live at Palace now?” asked Rose.

“We come too?” Finn asked. The other mice nodded in agreement and looked at Rey expectantly, but Rey didn’t know what to say. She and Ben hadn’t discussed the future yet. She turned to him to see him blushing.

“I, um,” he stammered and ran his hand through his hair. “You can come back to the Palace if you want to, I want you to, but I’ll take you where ever you want to go and if you want to be on your own, I’ll respect that.”

“I don’t want to be on my own anymore.” Rey said with a sad smile. “But how can we be together, I’m no one.”

“But not to me.” He let go of her hand and cupped her cheek. “Besides, my family has a tendency to marry unconventional people.” Rey couldn’t help but smile at that.

“I don’t think I’m ready to get married. I want us to get to know each other without the masks.”

“That’s what I want too.” They stared into each others eyes for an extended moment, both smiling at the other.

“So to the Palace?” Ben got up and held out his hand to her.

“To the Palace.” The mice cheered and Rey tucked them back in her bag before taking Ben’s offered hand.

They walked out of the meadows hand in hand with Chewie trailing behind them back towards where the Grand Duke and the rest of the guards were waiting for them.

Rey couldn’t wait for the next chapter of her life to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!
> 
> Just a short epilogue next week.


	17. Epilogue

Three years later

Leia stood in her study admiring the newest portrait to join her collection, having only just been finished, it was by far her favourite. It was her family, her newly expanded family.

Ben and Rey got married a year after the Ball. Leia was happy about her son’s choice. Rey was kind and hard working and she really brought out the best in Ben, and in turn he was patient and nurturing towards her helping her adjust to a new life at the palace.

The biggest challenge with Rey settling into court life was to get her to wear a dress. Having spent so many years having to be active, it was a struggle to get her to wear anything but trousers. Ben found it amusing, but there were certain expectations of women of the court. Leia had come up with a solution of wearing a really long cardigan to give the illusion of wearing a dress and even wore it herself guaranteeing that it would catch on.

Rey’s background was a bit of an issue as well, but Leia soon reminded anyone she overheard whispering about it, who her husband and father were, and they soon stopped. Leia believed that unconventional partners made the best partners.

But once they were married none of that mattered anymore. Everyone could agree that the Prince and his wife were happy and in love and that in turn made everyone else happy. Apart from Leia’s cousins of course.

They were even less happy when Rey and Ben announce that they were expecting a year after the wedding. And a few months later their line was secure when Rey gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, each born with a fair amount of black hair. Jacen and Jaina were sweet little babies and Leia couldn’t happen but think that she had had a prophetic dream the night of the Ball.

In the portrait, Rey and Leia sat on chairs holding a baby each. The children were wearing the same Christening gowns that Luke and Leia had worn many years before. Ben and Luke stood proudly behind them.

The day of the portrait sitting was only the second time that Luke had returned to the palace from the farm in Tatooine. He had left straight after he and Ben brought Rey back and had only come back for the wedding. Leia had been happy to let him go, he had done so much for her that it was the least she could do for him.

In the foreground of the portrait sat Chewie. No one had any idea of how he was still alive but he was. His existence consisted of stretching out in front of fireplaces but he seemed content. He was nothing if not loyal to Ben and would even watch over the twins as they slept.

As for the mice that Rey had brought with her to the palace, they had all passed on peacefully over the past couple of years, having lived the rest of their lives in comfort. Leia had been shocked to say the least when she came across them one morning playing around in her jewellery box, that it was a good thing the Rey was nearby by to explain everything before she called the exterminator. From then on Rey made sure that they stayed in her room, which they did and that was where their descendants stayed until this day.

Leia smiled for her life at that moment was perfect. She had her family around her and the kingdom was at peace. There was nothing else she could wish for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're done!
> 
> I have had so much fun writing this and it's been for more successful than I ever thought, so thank you very much for having a read.
> 
> If you're interested, I'll be back in April with another Disney Reylo crossover.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading the first chapter of my first fic!
> 
> This fic is heavily inspired by 1950's animated version of Cinderella and the 2015 live action remake.


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